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A loyalist bonfire with an effigy of a migrant vessel and about a dozen lifesize mannequins with lifejackets has been condemned as sick and racist.
The effigy has been placed atop a tower of pallets that is to be burned on Thursday night in the County Tyrone village of Moygashel as part of wider loyalist commemorations in Northern Ireland. Placards beneath the boat state “Stop the boats” and “Veterans before refugees”.
Politicians said the effigy was an emblem of hate and some called for it to be removed. “This is an absolutely disgusting act fuelled by sickening racist and far-right attitudes,” said Colm Gildernew, Sinn Féin’s assembly member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
“This is a clear incitement to hatred and must be removed immediately. Those who come to our island to make it their home are not the enemy. They are our friends, our neighbours, and are welcomed, cherished and valued by the vast majority of people here,” Gildernew said.
Malachy Quinn, an SDLP councillor, said he had reported the display to the police. “Those responsible for this hateful display claim to be celebrating British culture. Let’s be clear, racism and intimidation are not culture. This isn’t pride, it’s poison,” he said.
Eddie Roofe, an Alliance councillor, called for the display to be dismantled. “Those responsible only seek to incite fear and spread far-right beliefs and do not represent the community as a whole,” Roofe said.
The pyre is one of several hundred bonfires that are to be lit on Thursday and Friday as part of the annual celebration of the victory of King William III’s Protestant forces over Catholics at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
Some events have acquired notoriety over the years for burning the Irish tricolour and effigies of nationalist politicians and other perceived enemies of loyalism. The Moygashel effigy comes in the wake of anti-immigrant riots in Ballymena and other towns last month and renewed political focus in Britain on people crossing the Channel in small boats.
The DUP said bonfires should be “positive cultural celebrations” and that burning flags, effigies or other items “should not take place”.
Jamie Bryson, a prominent loyalist activist, defended the Moygashel pyre. “Every year Moygashel bonfire combines artistic protest with their cultural celebration,” he posted on X. “Their yearly art has itself become a tradition. This year the focus is on the scandal of mass illegal immigration.”
