Flag desecration

[1] Actions that may be treated as the desecration of a flag include burning it,[2] urinating or defecating on it, defacing it with slogans,[2] stepping upon it, damaging it with stones; bullets; or any other projectile, cutting or ripping it,[2] improperly flying it, verbally insulting it, dragging it on the ground,[3] or eating it, among other things.

According to article 160 bis of the Algerian penal code, the intentional and public shredding, distortion, or desecration of the national flag results in five to ten years of imprisonment as punishment.

[13] During the 2005 Cronulla riots, a Lebanese-Australian youth, whose name has been kept secret, climbed a Returned and Services League (RSL) club building and tore down its flag before setting it on fire.

[19] Tent embassy activists burned the Australian flag on 27 January 2012 at the entrance to Canberra's Parliament House as they called for Aboriginal sovereignty over Australia.

In the Brazilian Armed Forces' Military Penal Code,[25] article 161, a soldier, airman or seaman who disrespects any national symbol is punished with one to two years' detention; officers may be declared unsuitable for their rank.

[citation needed] In 1999, members of the Westboro Baptist Church from the United States staged a burning of the Canadian Flag outside of the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario.

[citation needed] In the judgement, Chief Justice Andrew Li said although the Basic Law of Hong Kong guarantees freedom of speech, flag desecration is not legal because there are other protest methods.

Koo responded that "he is happy to be punished as being jailed is part of the life of an activist, and he would continue to protest against the Beijing and Hong Kong governments and fight for democracy.

This clause was added as an amendment to a large bill dealing with internal security, in reaction to a football match during which there had been whistles against La Marseillaise, but also to similar actions during public ceremonies.

[49] On 22 December 2010, an Algerian national was the first person to be convicted under the new status, and ordered to pay a €750 after breaking the pole of a flag hung in the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture a day prior.

[65] Cecilia Keaveney said in a subsequent Dáil debate, "It may not be possible to address defacing the flag through legislation, but the House must issue a strong message that this is unacceptable.

"[66] Seán O'Casey's 1926 play The Plough and the Stars attracted controversy for its critical view of the Easter Rising, in particular a scene in which a tricolour is brought into a pub frequented by a prostitute.

[68][69] In response, nationalist students from University College Dublin, including future Taoiseach Charles Haughey, burned the British flag in Grafton Street.

In May 1958, the flag of the People's Republic of China, the Wǔ Xīng Hóngqí, at a postage stamp convention was pulled down and damaged, but as Japan did not recognize the PRC at the time, the law was not applied.

[citation needed] In Kazakhstan, under Chapter 14, Article 317 of the Criminal Code, an individual involved in flag desecration (including any state symbol) could face up to a fine of 3,000 monthly calculation index (10,350,000 tenge as of 2023).

[85] In 2013, a group of Chinese Malaysian students in Taiwan, were photographed with an upside-down national flag, and claimed the action was "to express their dissatisfaction of the just-concluded general election that they alleged was carried out in an undemocratic way".

[86][87] In another incident, a Chinese Malaysian businessman Lee Kim Yew was reported to have dishonoring the national flag by changing its white stripes to black in an online post.

The image, which has since been removed, was uploaded along with a post by Lee highlighting his recent blog entry on the inclusion of Jawi script lessons in Malay-language textbooks for Year 4 students.

[89] In Mexico, the desecration of the national flag and coat of arms is a crime punishable by six months to four years in prison, or a fine of 50 to 3,000 pesos (between 2 and 152 USD), or both sanctions.

This event is considered very important in the decision to negotiate and sign the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, by whose terms the Panama Canal administration was handed over to the Panamanian Government at the end of 1999.

[101] Section 34a of the 1998 Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines declares that it is a prohibited act "to mutilate, deface, defile, trample on or cast contempt or commit any act or omission casting dishonor or ridicule upon the flag or over its surface;"[102] Section 50 meanwhile declares, "Any person or judicial entity which violates any of the provisions of this Act shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than five thousand pesos (₱5,000.00) not more than twenty thousand pesos (₱20,000.00), or by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That for any second and additional offenses, both fine and imprisonment shall always be imposed: Provided, That in case the violation is committed by a juridical person, its President or Chief Executive Officer thereof shall be liable.

Several laws attempting to reinstate punishments for manifestations which express contempt for the Romanian symbols (according to the constitution, these are the flag, national day, anthem and coat-of-arms) have not been approved.

[115] Also during the FIFA World Cup, in 2002, Saudi Arabian officials protested against printing the flag on a football on the belief that kicking the creed with the foot was unacceptable.

In early 1994, white supremacists from the "Afrikaner Volksfront" organization burned the then-new South African flag in Bloemfontein in protest against the country's pending democratization.

[130][131] In 1997 a teenager who identified as a skinhead was fined 500kr for waving a large, modified Swedish flag from the top of a hill during an event celebrating Sweden's National Day.

The royal family being present, the event being part of the city of Lycksele's 50 year jubilee, and the act of standing on the hill to increase the number of people who could see the flag, were all seen as contributing factors in the sentence.

[134][135] In October 2018, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered the Foreign Ministry to investigate fashion footwear in Paris that incorporates the colours of the Thai national flag.

[143] In 2006, to allow greater police control over extremist protesters, 17 MPs signed a House of Commons motion calling for burning of the British flag to be made a criminal offence.

Since the demonstrations against the refusal by the government to renew the broadcasting license of RCTV (a major TV network), the upside-down flag of Venezuela has been adopted as a symbol of protest for this and other alleged threats to civil liberties.

[167] Globovisión prepended to the video a statement denouncing the message as violative of the Law on Social Responsibility on Radio and Television, "for constituting anonymous official propaganda".