The decision in September to raise the Palestinian flag over St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh, the seat of the Scottish government, encouraged a pro-Palestinian activist group to fly a mixed Palestinian-Scotland flag off lampposts on Glasgow’s main streets. But the initiative may have backfired.
“Glasgow residents have expressed their outrage after an activist group unfurled Palestine-Saltire on the city’s street lampposts,” GB News reported on Oct. 18.
The Saltire is the Scottish national flag, also known as Saint Andrew’s Cross.
Locals told the news outlet they “don’t want” the flags displayed and that they “hate to see it.”
“We really don’t know what’s happening to the city of Glasgow,” one man told GB News. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s beginning to become a shambles of a place.”
Some of the flags have been torn down by citizens acting independently but the Glasgow City Council has not yet taken action to remove the flags or commented on the matter, GB News reported.
The group behind the flags, United in Resistance, calls them “Palestine-Scotland Solidarity flags” and said they’re a “powerful statement of support and shared resistance.”
The group mainly sells pro-Palestinian products, describing itself as “a grassroots streetwear store rooted in solidarity. From keffiyehs to protest-ready tees, we create gear that speaks truth and stands for justice.”
The products have a decidedly pro-terrorist bent. One T-shirt reads, “A Woman’s Place is in the Resistance,” with a picture of Leila Khaled, a member of the proscribed terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who was involved in two airplane hijackings.
Another T-shirt reads, “I stand with Iran” and still another reads, “Intifada,” with the picture of a keffiyeh-clad head that most would associate with terrorism.
The group is working in conjunction with the Glasgow Genocide Emergency Committee and the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign to raise money for more flags.
“At a time of genocide and displacement, we are raising funds to launch a powerful campaign of welcome and solidarity by flying flags across our communities,” the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign said in a Facebook post.
The campaign appears to be in part a reaction to last month’s “Operation Raise the Colours,” an anti-illegal immigration movement, which called for displaying the Union Flag and the Saint George’s Cross in public places in England.
The idea caught on in Scotland, too, with people raising the Saltire together with the lion rampant, the royal banner of Scotland.
That campaign was associated with Tommy Robinson, who is currently in Israel as a guest of Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli. Robinson opposes the spread of Islam in his native England.
“I’m just opposed to Islam,” he said in a 2016 interview. “I believe it’s backward and fascist. The current refugee crisis has nothing to do with refugees. It’s a Muslim invasion.”
On Sept. 13, he led a rally in London that was the biggest right-wing protest in U.K. history. Police estimated the number of attendees at 110,000 to 150,000. Robinson claimed it was millions.
Officially, the Scottish government has shown significant support for the Palestinian cause.
Humza Yousaf, a Muslim born in Glasgow to Pakistani immigrants, served as first minister of Scotland and led the Scottish National Party (SNP), the country’s largest political party, from March 2023 to May 2024.
Yousaf frequently attacked Israel, accusing it of starvation and genocide in Gaza.
