Guy Teissier Wants Waving Foreign Flags in France to Become Illegal - French Government to Vote

In what is a surprising move to many, a new amendment to legislation has been proposed by French member of parliament, Guy Teissier. He is proposing to ""regulate the use of foreign flags in French public spaces by demanding prior permission".


Teissier has said, "A certain number of people, be they French, foreigners or not, during a diverse range of occasions – national holidays, protests – or in their daily lives, wave the flags of their country of origin."


The waving of foreign flags in France has become relatively commonplace, flags such as the Algerian Flag and Moroccan Flag in particular can be seen on a regular basis.

If the new amendment is passed the waving of a foreign flag without prior permission could be punishable with a fine of anything up to €1,500.

2000 People March Over the New Caledonian Flag Issue

2000 people marched in Noumea, New Caledonia over the issue of the New Caledonia Flag.

The issue of the flag has seen four governments dissolved over the past two months in New Caledonia. This week the French Overseas Minister, Marie-Luce Penchard was in Noumea attempting to resolve matters.

The march was a week later than originally planned, the French High Commissioner had banned the previous march on security grounds. This march passed off peacefully but reflected the emotions people feel about their national flag and therefore their national identity.

The whole issue boils around whether New Caledonia should have a 2-flag system and observe both the French Flag and the "Kanak" as the official flags of New Caledonia.

This whole issue proves again that national flags are a really big issue and mean a lot to people all around the world.

The Flag of New Caledonia

The French Flag

Estonian Government to Create Diplomatic Ties with Somalia

Diirad.com reports that the Estonian Government are recommending the proposal of Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and are entering into diplomatic discussions with Somalia.


Estonia currently has diplomatic relations with a total of 168 countries, the most recently added were Haiti and Comoros, which were added last year.


Urmaes Paet said on April 7 - "Establishment of diplomatic relations with Somalia is directly connected to Estonia's participation in Atalanta, the European Union military operation for protecting ships in the vicinity of Somalia from pirate attacks." Many people are failing to realise that the pirates are just as much of a nuisance to the Somalian Government as they are to governments around the world.


Paet went on to say that Estonian ships operating under Atalanta will need to collaborate with ships sailing under the Somalian flag. This process is smoothed considerably with the establishment of diplomatic relations. Paet also said that Estonia should establish diplomatic relations with as many countries as possible, as this best represents Estonia and also protects the Estonian population's worldwide interests.

Estonian Flag

Somalian Flag

French Flag flying high throughout Libya

According to reports coming out of Libya the French Flag is flying high throughout the country. The French government are very popular in Libya at the moment, the French flag is being waved throughout the country, especially in ant-government stronghold Benghazi.



Many traders have been doing a brisk trade in both French Flags and the former Republic of Libya flag (replaced by Gaddafi with the all-green flag).



French President Nicolas Sarkozy's name is constantrly chanted by anti-Gaddafi forces, who appreciate his very strong stance against Gaddafi's recent alleged atrocities in Libya. The Libyan public are also appreciative of other governments abroad such as the UK and US governments, but nowhere seems to be as popular right now as France.

British Government Advise British Nationals to Leave Yemen

There have been fervent ant--government protests in Yemen in recent days. This is so much so that the British Government has advised British nationals "get out while commercial airlines are still flying, in light of the rapid deterioration in the security situation".

Bringing this news story back to a flag theme, the Yemeni flag is being used actively by protesters, as can be seen in the picture below:


This is another example of national flags being used actively in protests, we have been able to bring you a number of such stories over the past weeks. The British Government also went on to advise:
"We urge all parties in Yemen to exercise the utmost restraint and take all steps necessary to defuse tension on the ground.
"We call on all parties to make urgent progress in implementing much needed political and economic reform.
"The government of Yemen must take urgent action to build trust with the opposition and with the protesters: without this trust, no agreement can be reached. The Yemeni people want to see their legitimate demands acknowledged and met and the UK fully supports them in this aspiration."

The Yemen Flag is being actively used by protestors.

For more information on this story visit, http://news.aol.co.uk/uk-news/story/leave-yemen-protests-britons-urged/1702314/