Talk:Flag desecration

Philippines

I've reverted this edit as original research. This interpretation, that Article XVI § 1 of the 1987 Philippine constitution explains why flag desecration is illegal in the Philippines, would need to be supported by a cited reliable source. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 18:21, 24 January 2019 (UTC)

Attribution

Text and references copied from 2 Black 2 Strong to Flag desecration. See former article's history for a list of contributors. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 17:30, 17 June 2020 (UTC)

Clarification of "disproportionately"

In

In 2020, as protests spread across the U.S. demanding an end to police brutality, some U.S. citizens chose to fly their flags upside down in solidarity with the movement supporting American minorities, mainly African Americans, who are disproportionately victims of killings by police.

the word disproportionately bothers me -- its meaning here is, I think, unclear. I think the first of the two sources cited was intended to support the use of that word here. That source says:

According to the research group Mapping Police Violence, African Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a white person.

Quoting that directly rather than characterizing it as disproportionately would meet WP's citing guidelines but would, I think, give a false impression of what the source attributed inline there said. I'm guessing here, but I think the info came from https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/; that web page changes frequently, a snapshot as of today can be seen here. That says in part:

Black people have been 28% of those killed by police since 2013 despite being only 13% of the population.
Database updated as of 6/23/2020

Actually, it's not immediately clear to me how to get a 2.5 times figure from that but I'm guessing that it could be done.

Digging around, though, I found Lynne Peeples (September 4, 2019). "What the data say about police shootings". Nature. which says "One paper published in August found that a black man is 2.5 times more likely than a white man to be killed by the police during his lifetime" and cites "Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race–ethnicity, and sex". PNAS. 116 (34): 16793–16798. August 20, 2019. doi:10.1073/pnas.1821204116. (first published August 5, 2019)

I updated the article to cite the Nature and PNAS sources. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 17:01, 4 July 2020 (UTC)

References

Clarification for France

The 2010 rectification of the law only state the thee descration is avoided if youwant to create public disorrer

Thastme (talk) 12:34, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Chile

I have added data for Chile. The map now should be updated (but that's beyond my skills).

Mfarah (talk) 00:19, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

New laws in Greece (as of July 1st, 2019)

Law 4619/2019 in Greece abolished the law 188 the article sugggests (to date). 2 new laws articles were created: Article 191A punishes desecration of domestic national symbols, including the flag. Article 155 punishes desecration of international symbols. However it specifies that the punishment: - must be associated with hate or disdain against a country, - this country is at peace with Greece, - Greece recognises its existence as a country.

Same applies if the national anthem of a country is interrupted or disturbed with other sounds. A punishment must be demanded by the insulted government in order to be in effect any kind of punishment.

Effectively, that means that Greece punishes both domestic and internation flag desecrations.

AzureDrake92 (talk) 17:03, 5 March 2023 (UTC)

Indonesia

It is illegal or legal to damage the flag of indonesia? I hope anyone can help answer my question. 2404:8000:1027:85F6:109A:5AA:7E5E:48DA (talk) 03:15, 10 March 2023 (UTC)

According to Law 24 of 2009 about the flag, language, state symbols and the national anthem of Indonesia: “Any person who destroys, rips, trampled, burns, or commits any other act with the intention of tarnishing, insulting or degrading the honour of the state flag [ …] shall be sentenced to a maximum imprisonment of five years or a maximum fine of 500 million rupiah (US$32,600).” FireDragonValo (talk) 00:31, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

Inappropriate images

@FireDragonValo: You undid my edit which removed decorative images from the article, with the edit summary "MOS:IMAGERELEVANCE: remove images not significant to flag desecration; not the right article for a list of national flags: see Gallery of sovereign state flags". I do not agree with your reversion, and am following WP:BRD here.

You did not provide an edit summary for your reversion, as required, so I do not know why you have reinstated images which are not appropriate for the article and seem to fulfil no purpose other than decoration, contrary to MOS:IMAGERELEVANCE.

I will remove the images again unless you can demonstrate which policy supports their inclusion. Regards, Bazza (talk) 09:57, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

In the absence of any reason for keeping these inappropriate images, I have deleted them. Bazza (talk) 14:11, 11 November 2023 (UTC)

The World Burning Issues

Hi,descration is about to be made public violence and the violation of human dignity and abuse of countries constitutional rights as seen earlier in South Africa and backwards at some countries it did happen and to urinate on public fag is illegal or burning it . Some political leaders they provoke states without knowing or with an intention to either killed or kill those obey the rules of present government at that time. It takes a decades to draft national flag and many things occurred before any national flag published together with the constitution of such countries and those voters rights must be respected by those willing or those not willing . Amooketsi Care and Respect Others.

The World Burning Issues

Hi,descration is about to be made public violence and the violation of human dignity and abuse of countries constitutional rights as seen earlier in South Africa and backwards at some countries it did happen and to urinate on public fag is illegal or burning it . Some political leaders they provoke states without knowing or with an intention to either killed or kill those obey the rules of present government at that time. It takes a decades to draft national flag and many things occurred before any national flag published together with the constitution of such countries and those voters rights must be respected by those willing or those not willing . Amooketsi Care and Respect Others. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.113.143.108 (talk) 17:57, 14 July 2024 (UTC)

Information about Japan is not true

Japan has not made desecration of foreign flags legal. What kind of nonsense is this??? It clearly states in Article 92 that it is illegal. The 2022 reform only changed a single word about imprisonment and is not affective before 2025. Please check your facts before making these kind of things public 95.166.159.222 (talk) 23:27, 3 September 2024 (UTC)

Pride flags

At some protests opposing LGBTQIA+ rights, pride flags may be seen getting desecrated (e.g. burnt, torn, trampled on, etc.), with rainbow flags and transgender flags being the most commonly desecrated although other flags like lesbian flags or the bisexual flag have been desecrated before, as shown on various YouTube videos and news sources. OMGShay 92 (talk) 13:55, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

@OMGShay 92: I'm surprised pride flags haven't already been included in the article, as desecration of them has become increasingly common. After a quick search, I found these two sources which could be useful: , . CitrusHemlock 15:56, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

Country Map Inaccuracy

The country map at the start of the article shows Japan as green (flag desecration legal) but later the article mentions that burning foreign flags is illegal.

I have not checked the other countries. 82.167.95.83 (talk) 15:12, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

American flag burning examples

I have noticed the two images relating to flag burning in America are not of the American flag being burnt in America, but in Iran. It would make sense if those images were within the Iran subsection but not within America's. I believe the America subsection should contain images of the American flag that are being burnt in America. 2600:100E:A123:24AE:B919:72E9:6756:B8AF (talk) 17:32, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

Austria legal references

Moved from User talk:Bazza 7 § Flag desecration article

Bazza 7 (talk) 13:32, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

Hi, the strange contribution by an IP that you reverted was someone being unhelpfully helpful — or is it the other way round? They quoted Austrian law, "§248 StGB" being short for Strafgesetzbuch Paragraph 248, which translate as section 248 of the criminal code. Just thought you might like to know that this wasn't mindless vandalism but absent-minded volunteerism, though it might be hard to discern the difference in the effect. All the best,  == Peter NYC 16:17, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

 Courtesy link: Flag desecration

@Peter NYC Thanks. "§248 StGB" meant nothing to me; nor would it, I suspect, to most readers. You've given me enough to obtain two references which have allowed me to update the section on Austria in English, and correct the summary in the table. If I've misunderstood the gist, then feel free to correct the article.

Good teamwork, and thanks for your help. Bazza 7 (talk) 19:47, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

Hi, glad you found my comment useful, and I looked at the laws, there are in fact two.

You'll love this, I'm sure, and I prefer if you'd edit this down to whatever is suitable as I don't work on the article, I just keep an eye on it because of my First Amendment interests. Gotta say though, I love the legal language they are using, you have to do this in a way that both receives reasonably widespread uproar/publicity, and you have to do it with malice, avoiding the pitfalls of many other lèse-majesté laws! Bolding mine.  == Peter NYC 21:25, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

Flag (etc.) of the Federal Republic of Austria and the member states § 248

Anyone who, in a manner that makes the act known to a broad public, maliciously insults, disparages, or otherwise degrades a flag of the Republic of Austria or one of its federal states, an emblem of sovereignty affixed by an Austrian authority, the federal anthem, or a state anthem, displayed on a public occasion or at a generally accessible event, shall be punished with imprisonment for up to six months or with a fine of up to 360 daily rates.

https://rdb.manz.at/document/ris.n.NOR40173721

Foreign flags § 317

Anyone who, in a manner that makes the act known to a broad public, maliciously insults, disparages, or otherwise degrades a flag or emblem of a foreign state or intergovernmental organization that has been displayed by a domestic authority or a representative of the foreign state or intergovernmental organization in accordance with the general rules of international law or intergovernmental agreements, or the anthem of a foreign state performed at a public event, shall be punished with imprisonment for up to six months or with a fine of up to 360 daily rates.

https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10002296&FassungVom=2025-09-25&Artikel=&Paragraf=317&Anlage=&Uebergangsrecht=  == Peter NYC 21:25, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

@Peter NYC: Thanks. I've updated the article at Flag desecration § Austria to encapsulate the gist of the two acts, including the specific points you mention about manner and maliciousness. Bazza 7 (talk) 13:46, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

The map needs to be updated

Estonia should be brown (or is it dark red? I can't tell due to CVI), since desecration of the national flag, as well as foreign flags is illegal. JonteP1 (talk) 06:29, 5 June 2026 (UTC)