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Some members of Montreal’s Italian community are upset the Patriote flag, an enduring symbol for Quebec separatists, is flying in place of the Italian flag over a park in the heart of Little Italy.

While no one seems sure how the flag got there, what has Giuseppe Recine upset is that city officials don’t seem too concerned about the flag flap.

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He alerted civic officials about the snafu two weeks ago, but so far the Patriote flag is still flying over Parc de la Petite-Italie, in northwest Montreal.

Photo by Dario Ayala / Montreal Gazette

“It’s a big insult,” Recine said. “Flags are symbolic, and this park is one of the safe havens for the Italian community.”

Although the Italian and Patriote flags have similar colour bars — green, white and red — the bars on the Italian flag are aligned vertically, while on the Patriote flag they’re aligned horizontally.

“This could be a (simple) mistake,” Recine said, “but I don’t think so, because (the Italian flag) has been up here for 15 years.”

Since a key is needed to access a metal box with the flagpole strings, Recine doubts the Patriote flag was accidentally hoisted next to the official flags of Montreal and Quebec’s fleurdelisé.

He wonders if a city worker from the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie borough did it as a prank, or a political gesture, at the expense of the Italian community. Whatever the case, Recine found it “blatantly disrespectful” to the city’s Italian community.