The Palestinian flag was raised for the first time today by several Town Halls in South Yorkshire on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

The United Nations called for annual event in 1977 which is now recognised across the world.

Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley are flying the Palestinian flag after rising pressure from the public.

Julie Pearn, chair of Sheffield Labour Friends of Palestine, has called the day “historic in the current political context” after her request to Sheffield City Council to fly the flag was initially met with hesitation.

She said: “It is a triumph of popular organising and pressure which has forced reluctant leadership to take this moral and sound political step.”

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council was the first in South Yorkshire to agree to fly the flag.

The decision raised controversy as last year Rotherham and Sheffield flew the Israeli flag after Hamas’s attack on 7 October.

The flag was forcibly removed by activists and replaced with a Palestinian flag which led to Sheffield City Council adopting a new flag flying protocol.

Cllr Taiba Yasseen of Rotherham Council presented the largest petition in Rotherham’s history, with 4,031 signatures, calling for a permanent ceasefire in the region.

She said: “The Israeli flag was flown because an atrocity was committed, but the Palestinian flag has never been flown yet the atrocities continue to take place.”

Cllr Yasseen further outlined that “small” actions like this in Rotherham and South Yorkshire will contribute to pressure and influence for a permanent ceasefire and peace for the Palestinian people.

Dr Pearn added that she hopes the news of the action in South Yorkshire reaches Palestinians everywhere and lets them know that “we speak out on their behalf for justice, for an end to their oppression under Israeli apartheid, and for their freedom”.