Since the launch of the coalition and especially since the start of the 2023 war on Gaza , there has been a growing campaign for the council to show solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.
But this is not a new phenomenon. There is a long history of campaigners calling on Sheffield City Council to express its solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Sheffield has a reputation as a city with an internationalist perspective and it was the first city in the UK to declare itself an Apartheid Free city in 1981 . It has also been at the forefront of the Sanctuary movement in this country and was the first city in the UK to formally declare itself a City of Sanctuary.
In the 1990s the Council would fly the Palestinian flag above the Town Hall each year on November 29th to mark the United Nations Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people (add link to UN), a practice it stopped around 2000 in spite of concerted calls by Sheffield Palestine Solidarity movement to do o.
The Council has received a number of public petitions over the last 20 years on the question of solidarity with Palestine, notably in 2009 during the Israeli military attack on Gaza.
You can find out more about the timeline of our campaigning at the council here
