Flag desecration

Flag desecration is a term applied to the desecration of flags or violation of , a various set of acts that intentionally destroy, damage, or mutilate a flag in public. Often, in case of a national flag, such action is intended to make a political point against a country or its policies. Some countries have laws forbidding methods of destruction (such as burning in public) or forbidding particular uses (such as for commercial purposes); such laws may distinguish between desecration of the country's own national flag and flags of other countries.

Actions that may be treated as flag desecration include burning it, urinating or defecating on it, defacing it with slogans, stepping upon it, damaging it with stones or guns, cutting or ripping it, verbally insulting it, or dragging it on the ground.

Flag desecration may be undertaken for a variety of reasons. It may be a protest against a country's foreign policy, including one's own, or the nature of the government in power there. It may be a protest against nationalism, or a deliberate and symbolic insult to the people of the country represented by the flag. It may also be a protest at the very laws prohibiting the act of desecrating a flag.

Burning or defacing a flag is a crime in some countries. In countries where it is not, the act may still be prosecuted as disorderly conduct, arson, or theft if conducted against someone else's property.

Using a flag unconventionally, such as hanging it upside down or reversed, may be regarded as desecration. Flying a flag at half-mast is considered desecration in Saudi Arabia. In some countries, however, flying a flag upside-down is conventional protocol to indicate an emergency or problem, or to indicate a state of war. Moreover, some flags (such as the flag of Austria) when hung upside down and/or reversed look the same because they are vertically and/or horizontally symmetrical.

Some countries regard it as desecration to make toilet paper, napkins, doormats, and other such items bearing the image of the flag, so that the flag's image will be destroyed or soiled. It is, however, increasingly common in some countries to see clothing with the image of the flag forming a substantial part of the piece. Views vary as to whether some of this is an act of national pride or disrespect.

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