Overview

• The Cergy-Pontoise administrative court granted the Hauts-de-Seine prefect’s urgent petition and enjoined Malakoff to take down the flag immediately.
• Police delivered the prefect’s notice Friday night; Mayor Jacqueline Belhomme condemned a “prefectoral power grab” and said the banner would not come down before early next week.
• The Interior Ministry instructed prefects to oppose such pavoisements on neutrality grounds, with its secretary‑general stating the state “asks for non‑pavoisement,” after PS leader Olivier Faure urged mayors to raise the flag on Sept. 22.
• Other actions followed: Mauléon-Licharre removed a flag after a prefect’s demand, the court suspended Bezons’ plan, and cities including Nantes, Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis, Tarnos, Grenoble and Lille announced or displayed Palestinian flags.
• Recent jurisprudence has often ordered removals, though Ukrainian flags were previously allowed as acts of solidarity subject to council votes, and rulings on Israeli flags have shifted, underscoring legal uncertainty.