For seven months, the Palestinian flag has flown over Dublin, Ireland, and no one seems to know how to safely remove it. The small flag appeared high up on the 393-foot-tall Spire of Dublin, also known as the Monument of Light, in September, with city officials unsure who put it there or how. The reigning theory appears to be that the flag on a hoop now hugging the structure was dropped by a drone. Dublin City Council has suggested removing it with climbing ropes, vehicle-mounted platforms and ladders, and a 300-ton crane, but all ideas have been dismissed as dangerous, too pricey, and potentially pointless amid the possibility that the flag could simply reappear, per the Guardian.
The flag is often twisted around the spire and barely visible from down on O'Connell Street. But once told it's there, many Dubliners say they're fine with it, in a country that has been among the EU's sharpest critics of Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank, the Guardian reports. The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign hailed the stunt as a "feat of acrobatics or ingenuity." Internal documents show experts told the city council a major crane operation was likely needed to bring the flag down, but that would mean high costs and plenty of disruption, including traffic management and crowd control barriers, reports the Irish Times. With officials balking, it appears that, for now at least, the mystery flag will be staying put.
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