Northern Ireland - Vote on British Flag Divides Belfast - NYTimes.com Protestant protesters stormed onto the grounds of the Belfast City Hall on Monday and clashed with the police after the City Council's Catholic majority voted to remove the British flag from the building for most of the year. The police said five officers and two security guards were injured. More than 1,000 Protestants had rallied outside as the Council voted to remove the British flag from the building for all but 17 designated days each year. The flag has flown continuously from the city hall's dome for more than a century.