Oldham Council has refuted claims that it lit up the Old Town hall in the colours of the Palestinian flag during the Christmas lights switch on event on Saturday, November 18.
On X, formerly Twitter, user David Atherton shared a photograph claiming that the town hall had been lit up in the colours of the Palestinian flag ‘masquerading as Christmas lights’.
Mr Atherton is a writer for the right-wing website The European Conservative, which is published in Hungary.
Oldham Council responded with a post stating: “These are Christmas lights. Red and green.
“And we had lights of all colours on Saturday - indeed, standing on the steps of the Old Town Hall and facing in the other direction you'd have seen golds and purple.”
Indeed, photographs and video from Oldham Times reporter Joe Yates, who attended the switch-on event, appeared to support the council’s statement – with red and green lights shown, as well as purple and gold.
The uproar is reminiscent of an incident earlier this month, where supermarket chain Marks and Spencer apologised after showing an outtake from its ad with red, green, and silver coloured paper hats.
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Following Hamas’s attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,000, Oldham Council flew the borough’s ‘Peace Flag’ – while some other local authorities flew the Israeli flag, and some did not fly any flag.
At the time, council leader Arooj Shah condemned violence on ‘all sides.’
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The switch-on took place as many similar events across the country were cancelled by councils, citing budget concerns.
Bolton’s traditional Christmas light switch-on was cancelled, with an art installation instead being put in place.
A light downfall of rain was not enough to put people off Oldham’s event, with a Christmas parade kicking off the proceedings, attended by Santa himself.
A production of The Wrong Reindeer, headed up by Oldham Theatre Workshop took place at 6pm, as spectators waited for the lights on.
The lights were followed by a fireworks display.
Next month, a free Brass Monkey Festival will take place on Saturday, December 9 from 11am till 3pm, where local and national brass bands will descend on Oldham town centre.
The Heritage, Libraries and Arts Service is also hosting an array of events, including showing The Wrong Reindeer, a 20th-anniversary screening of Elf, and a Christmas Books and Bobs Fair.
If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Oldham. Please email me at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.
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