Representatives from the Illawarra's Lebanese community joined with Wollongong council officials on Thursday to watch the flag of their homeland being raised outside the city headquarters.
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A suggestion from Acting Lord Mayor Tania Brown, the flag raising was designed as a small gesture of solidarity with the people of Beirut, who are dealing with the aftermath of last week's horrific explosion which killed hundreds, injured thousands and left more than 300,000 people in the city homeless.
"Many of us have seen the awful footage of the explosion in Beirut last week that caused such devastation and caused so much loss of life including, sadly, a two-year-old Australian boy,'' Cr Brown said.
"By taking this step and flying the Lebanese flag on our flagpole we are demonstrating our compassion and recognising the impact this event has had not only on those who call Beirut home, but also those who live here among us but have close ties to Lebanon.''
Cr Brown said she had been heartened by the community's response to the flag initiative, which was unanimously supported by councillors on Monday.
"We are a broad community made up of many different nations and I've always said symbols and signs matter," she said.
"They don't cost much - and it means so much to people that you show that you're thinking of them in this way."
We have a large Lebanese community here, and we were joined by some of them this morning. They all had stories of people who are suffering."
The flag will fly outside the council headquarters until next Wednesday.
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