Police launch hate crime inquiry over bonfire signs

Sectarian signs, election posters and an effigy have appeared on bonfires in parts of NI during what the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) described as "a relatively quiet" Eleventh night.

Bonfires are lit on 11 July, to kick off the Twelfth of July celebrations. The NIFRS attended 37 bonfire-related incidents, overnight, 25% fewer than last year.

A sign apparently threatening SDLP leader Colum Eastwood was placed alongside a hanging effigy on a bonfire in the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey.

Party colleague Cara Hunter described the display as “absolutely despicable behaviour”.

“Unionist leadership needs to come out strong against this nonsense and call it for what it is,” the assembly member wrote on social media.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it was investigating material placed on the bonfire as a hate crime.

The board was removed following engagement between neighbourhood policing teams and the local community, police added.

In south Belfast, election posters depicting Sinn Féin's First Minister Michelle O'Neill and SDLP's MP Claire Hanna were placed on a bonfire alongside sectarian threats.

Republic of Ireland and Palestinian flags were also placed on the structure.

Last year, there was condemnation after an image of Ms O'Neill appeared on a bonfire in Dungannon in County Tyrone.

Signs criticising local newspaper titles have also appeared on several bonfires, one of which mentioned SDLP councillor Dónal Lyons, who said "there is a lot more to life than poking people in the eye".

"This is depressing, not in that it’s about me but that there’s young ones being taught that this is how they can best celebrate their community and traditions," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

In 2023, police received 68 reported incidents, including 21 alleged hate crimes, involving the burning of election posters or effigies, and 47 alleged hate-related incidents, including the burning of flags.

NIFRS Assistant Chief Fire and Rescue Officer Brian Stanfield said it had been "a relatively quiet eleventh night for Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service".

"Between 6pm and 2am, we received 109 emergency 999 calls. This resulted in our firefighters attending 78 operational incidents, 37 of which were bonfire related.

"During this period, the number of emergency calls received was down 25% when compared to 2023."

On Wednesday evening, hundreds of people gathered to watch a bonfire burn in Moygashel in County Tyrone.

It featured a mock police car on top of the structure.

The bonfire was also adorned with a Republic of Ireland flag and an Irish-language banner reading Saoirse don Phalaistin (Freedom for Palestine).

In 2023, a boat was placed on top of the fire in Moygashel, themed as an anti-Northern Ireland Protocol bonfire.

Hundreds of bonfires are lit every year in unionist communities across Northern Ireland on the eve of the Twelfth of July, the main date in the annual parading season.

The date commemorates the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when the Protestant King William III - also known as King Billy and William of Orange - defeated Catholic King James II.

Bonfires were lit to welcome - and guide - William.

Historically, a much smaller number of bonfires were lit in mainly nationalist areas on 15 August to mark the Catholic feast of the Assumption, a tradition that was replaced in some places by bonfires to mark the anniversary of the introduction of internment - or detention without trial - on 9 August 1971.

The Craigyhill bonfire in Larne has been the largest in NI in recent years.

In 2022 it reportedly reached about 202ft (62m) in height.

• Read more: Why are bonfires lit over the Twelfth?