Stormont minister criticises bonfire at asbestos site as Kneecap effigies and Irish language signage destroyed
Effigies of rap trio Kneecap and an Irish language slogan urging people to 'kill your local Kneecap' were burnt on the bonfire.
It was one of dozens of bonfires which were ignited to mark Eleventh Night.
The NI Fire & Rescue Service said it was 'a challenging and extremely busy night'.
In one incident in Lisburn, a firefighter was attacked at a bonfire.
Meanwhile, in Belfast, a controversial bonfire that the City Council wanted removed went ahead as planned.
Figures appearing to be dressed in the style of rappers Moghlaí Bap, DJ Próvaí and Mo Chara appeared on the pyre in the Village area.
Belfast City Council had on Wednesday ordered the dismantling of the structure following fears over its proximity to a nearby electrical substation and the presence of loose asbestos at the site.
However, the bonfire was lit after the PSNI deemed it too dangerous to intervene.
As well as the effigies, the bonfire contained an Irish tricolour and Palestine flag, as well as a sign penned in Irish which reads: 'Maraigh do aitiúil Kneecap'.
Though grammatically incorrect, the message roughly translates as 'Kill your local Kneecap', an apparent reference to comments made by the band about Tory MPs – for which the group later apologised.
Another sign read 'SDLP and Alliance do not represent our community'.
Mr Muir said: "I am very disappointed with the decision to light the bonfire.
"Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) staff monitored events last night along with statutory partners throughout the night.
"We will be engaging with other statutory partners in the coming days as we all assess the impact of the bonfire.
"NIEA will also focus on the efforts by the landowner to remove the asbestos pile safely from the site in the time ahead and the environmental crime investigation will continue.
"As I have already stated, a review must also be undertaken looking at lessons that can be learned involving all statutory partners."
Separately, a poster featuring Kneecap along with sectarian slogans was attached to an Eleventh Night bonfire in Co Tyrone.
The banner, which had a photograph of the west Belfast band as its backdrop, was cable-tied to the pallets used to construct the bonfire in Eastvale Avenue in Dungannon.
It featured the heading 'Kill your local Kneecap', with a further line stating 'The only good one is a dead one'. In the centre of the poster is the acronym 'KAT', with 'Death to Hamas' and 'Destroy all Irish Republicans' also on the banner.
At Sandy Row, an effigy wearing a Celtic jersey and a tricolour balaclava was placed on top of a bonfire alongside two Palestinian flags.
A posted reading 'F**k Kneecap and Palestine' was fixed to the structure along with another notice reading 'Stop the Boats. Deport Illegals. Stop the Invasion'.
The NI fire service said it was one of its busiest nights of the year.
Between 6pm yesterday and 2am this morning, the NIFRS received 277 emergency 999 calls and attended 194 incidents - 72 of which were bonfire related.
'During this period, the number of emergency calls received increased by 154% when compared to 2024,' Area Commander Andy Burns said.
'It was a challenging and extremely busy night for NIFRS with an increase in demand for our regional control centre and emergency response.'
He added: 'Disappointingly, a firefighter was attacked while attending a bonfire in Lisburn. They were not injured and remained on duty.
"This was an isolated incident and not reflective of the support shown to Firefighters in carrying out their duties across the evening.'
Yesterday Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey described similar sectarian displays on a bonfire in west Belfast as 'sickening'.
The offensive banners appeared on a pyre alongside Irish tricolours in the Highfield area of the city, with police confirming the banners are being treated as 'motivated by hate'.
The 'KAT' slur has this time been painted onto one of the flags in block capital letters and hung above a sign that reads 'stop the boats'.
Another sign with 'ATAT' and 'HYL' painted on it alongside a crosshair target has also been spotted at the site in addition to a sign that warns 'PSNI not welcome in loyalist Highfield'.
'Such open and sickening displays of sectarian and racist hatred have absolutely no place in our society,' said Mr Maskey.
"Political unionism must speak out and demand the removal of these offensive materials.
'Real leadership is needed, although it has been sorely lacking in these communities for some time.
'This is clearly a hate crime, and I have reported it to the PSNI.'
We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity.
A PSNI spokesperson said: 'Police have received reports regarding offensive signage placed on a bonfire in the Highfield area and in the Eastvale area of Dungannon.
'Enquiries into these matters, which are being treated as being motivated by hate, are ongoing.'
Meanwhile, a drone carrying an Irish tricolour was spotted flying over the Shankill Road as the community prepared to light their bonfire.
Footage on social media appeared to show the drone performing laps of the area.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
Artist or activist? For Juliet Stevenson and her husband, Gaza leaves them with no choice
Read any celebrity-signed open letter advocating for social justice over the past few years and you'll probably spot Juliet Stevenson's name. When the veteran actor is not gracing screens or on a stage somewhere, she's out on the streets brandishing a placard or giving speeches about human rights, gender equality and the Palestinian right to self-determination. Just last month, she wrote in the Guardian about the British government's 'complicity' in the Gaza atrocities and what she called an attempt to repress civil liberties by proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist group. Critics may – and they do – disparage Stevenson as a 'luvvie' engaging in typical performative liberal politics, but spend just a few minutes with the actor and her husband – the anthropologist, film-maker and writer Hugh Brody – and you quickly discover that the roots of their activism run far deeper than that. In fact, the fight for peace and justice in Palestine is something that has defined the couple's relationship for 32 years, particularly because Brody is Jewish and the son of a Holocaust survivor. 'We've both been very concerned with issues around Palestine for a very long time,' Stevenson tells me from her kitchen table in north London, where she's sitting with her husband. 'We were both absolutely horrified by what happened on 7 October. But as the onslaught on Gaza began, and the numbers of dead quickly rose, we became increasingly upset, angry and anxious about it.' 'Israel and Palestine has been a huge issue for me for the entirety of my adult life, and it was inevitably something I brought to the conversation with Juliet when we met,' Brody says. Listening to him as he delves into his family history, it's not difficult to see why. 'My mother, Gertrude Schaefer, was brought up with a sense of enormous tragedy and death, which she passed on to me. She came from an Austro-Polish family in Vienna, and was a part of the city's highly assimilated, sophisticated and cultured Jewish community. Her mother had been a student of Adler, my mother knew the Freuds.' But, after the Anschluss in 1938, when it 'became evident that it was very dangerous to be a Jew under the German occupation', Gertrude – a mere 18-year-old at the time – fled Austria for the UK with the help of some Quakers. 'She was transferred to Sheffield to work at the hospitals as a junior nurse.' Brody's grandmother eventually managed to join her daughter and her daughter's new husband (a Jewish doctor) in Sheffield. 'But by the end of the war, she discovered that almost everybody else in her family was dead.' All of this contributes towards the couple's commitment to the Palestinian cause. Stevenson and Brody have never given an interview together, but the escalating crisis in the Middle East has compelled them to move beyond artistic power couple and into the far more risky territory of campaigning. The couple are confident that Gertrude would have entirely supported their stance. 'She was a woman with a very strong sense of social justice,' Brody says. 'She was appalled by what she saw in Palestine in the last years of her life.' Stevenson talks of how much she adored her mother-in-law, whom she calls an 'absolutely brilliant' woman. 'She could have done anything, but her whole life was marked by the Holocaust. I know that she would be absolutely horrified by what's gone on in the last 21 months in Gaza, as have many of our Jewish friends. There have been some very difficult conversations around this kitchen table.' Stevenson and Brody met at a mutual friend's dinner party in 1993. She is unbelievably glad that she didn't give in to her impulse to cancel that night, she says. 'By that point I'd had to play a lot of characters in Shakespeare who fell in love at first sight, and I always thought it was ridiculous. But when I walked into the room and met Hugh, something really weird happened to me. Something shifted in my gut. All evening I sat and listened to his stories and thought: 'You are the most interesting and gorgeous man I've ever met.'' The actor's screen credits include a Bafta-nominated turn as a grieving wife in Anthony Minghella's 1990 film Truly, Madly, Deeply (opposite Alan Rickman), a hapless mother in Bend it Like Beckham, and a nurse in Mona Lisa Smile. On stage, she has been in productions including Measure for Measure, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and Death and the Maiden – for which she received the Olivier award for best actress. Her calendar remains jam-packed: she recently starred in the Virginia Gilbert film Reawakening, the BBC series Wolf, and Robert Icke's play The Doctor (which was, ironically, about a doctor cancelled for standing up for her principles). But much of what has been occupying her recently is helping to organise a fundraising event with Health Workers 4 Palestine, a grassroots group of medical workers who came together to support colleagues in Gaza. Voices of Solidarity, an evening of music, comedy and spoken word taking place at the Troxy in London on 19 July, is billed as the UK's largest cultural fundraiser for Palestine and aims to raise £1m for medicines and medical equipment. Stevenson will also be doing a reading on the night, alongside a lineup that includes Bassem Youssef, Paloma Faith, Khalid Abdalla and Alexei Sayle. She says it is more important than ever for those with a platform to speak for the voiceless. Both she and Brody believe 'a fear of being branded as antisemitic' is a big factor in many people's silence. 'In my industry, every institution, every arts organisation who could and should be standing up is too frightened, because of the risk of losing money and sponsorship,' she says. 'It kind of makes you crazy, because you think: have you not seen the footage of Israelis in Israel sitting in the streets holding pictures of dead Palestinian children and saying, 'not in our name'? Have you not seen the hundreds of rabbis sitting down in Grand Central station in New York and saying, 'not in our name'? Have you not seen the Jewish bloc at the protests on Saturdays in London streets saying, 'not in our name'?' 'This equation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism has been a very difficult thing for me and many others,' Brody says. 'It's an absurdity and an ideological trap. It lays the foundation for a whole new kind of antisemitism. My view of Israel evolves, my relationship to Zionism changes, but my Jewishness hasn't changed. That's fixed.' The evolution Brody is talking about has taken place over the course of several decades, and was recorded in his 2022 book, Landscapes of Silence. He speaks at length about the months he spent as a 19-year-old living in a socialist kibbutz on the border of Israel and Gaza, and the 'extraordinary egalitarianism' that filled him with hope and excitement. 'As someone brought up in the shadow of the Holocaust, Israel represented to me, and to my family, a place of safety in a world that was deeply and chronically unsafe,' he says. But the events of the subsequent years seeded a dichotomy within him. With each conflict, he says, he was torn between a deep need for Israel and growing outrage over the actions of the Israeli state. 'It became a question in my mind: what has happened here? Whatever bit of idealism might have been there faded away.' Then came the horrifying events of 7 October and the Netanyahu government's subsequent war on Gaza. 'That war has grown into a genocide,' he says, 'and a point comes where the silence must be broken. The crimes have to be challenged. If we care for the safety and survival of Israel, all the more reason to protest as loudly as possible against its current regime.' The international court of justice is weighing the charge of genocide against Israel. According to the Gaza health ministry, more than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's campaign in Gaza (a robust independent survey recently put the count at almost 84,000). The war was triggered in October 2023 when Hamas's attack killed 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostage. Stevenson's anger extends to the UK government's 'moral bankruptcy' and what she describes as the mainstream media's 'shameful' coverage of the situation in Gaza. She mentions the selling of arms to Israel, the proscription of Palestine Action, attempts to ban Kneecap from Glastonbury, and the uproar over Bob Vylan's set. 'That weekend when Bob Vylan was on the front of every newspaper and the subject of every talkshow, something like 90 starving Palestinians were shot dead in Gaza while queueing for food. Nobody covered that at all,' she says. Stevenson and Brody have two children together – a son and a daughter – but Brody's first son from a previous relationship, Tomo, died suddenly in 2020 at the age of 37. The tragedy has given the couple first-hand experience of the grief that surrounds the loss of a child. I ask the actor what she thinks the connection is between art and activism, whether it's the case that both require you to communicate the entirety of the human experience, including its unbearable tragedies. 'I've been negotiating that myself,' she says. 'I've talked to Hugh so much about how exactly I can help. I always try to bring the human story to crowds, to appeal to the Jo Cox principle, that we have more in common than that which divides us.' 'Can I say something about the connection between Juliet's art and Juliet's activism?' Brody says. 'There are some words that come to mind to describe Juliet's qualities on stage and on screen. Words like clarity, integrity and seeking truth in the text. She is transcendently wonderful on stage because of these characteristics, but they are inseparable from her commitment to speaking truth.' At this point Stevenson tears up and begins rubbing her husband's back. 'That's making me cry,' she says. 'I'm not being soppy, but I find this concealing or manipulation of the truth unbearable. People's babies are being shot, children are being buried under rubble. Unspeakable trauma is being inflicted on children and parents.' Does she ever fear the repercussions of her activism on her career? Actors such as Melissa Barrera and Susan Sarandon were dropped by Hollywood companies for their comments on Israel and Palestine. 'I do, as do my kids. But I just don't feel like I've got a choice. Does my career really matter, alongside what's going on in Gaza? 'I look at younger actors, and I completely understand why they feel too frightened to speak. They have everything to lose. But I enjoy a lot of status in the industry. I've done a huge amount of work and I continue to work. What really matters to me is that when I get to the end, I can look back and know that I did what I thought was right at the time.' This article was amended on 13 July 2025. An earlier version said that the character Nina in Truly, Madly, Deeply was a cellist. In fact, her husband Jamie was the cellist.
The National
10 hours ago
- The National
Edinburgh University responds as students stage walk out over Israel
Video shared on Instagram showed Thursday's events – which were for graduates of the university's School of Social and Political Science – being repeatedly interrupted by pro-Palestine protests from the student body. Graduates waved flags with slogans such as 'No universities in Gaza', 'Jews say divest', and 'fund teaching not genocide' as they took to the stage. Video on social media showed the event being interrupted as a student protester shouted from the crowd: 'How dare you? 'The UN has explicitly named the University of Edinburgh as one of the most significantly financially complicit universities in the Gaza genocide.' A large group of students were seen to rise, chanting, before walking out of the ceremony. The Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society posted other clips and reported that further protests had happened during ceremonies for biomedical sciences, engineering, chemistry, physics, and English. It came after a report by Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, named the University of Edinburgh as one of 'the most financially entangled' institutions in the UK to Israel. "With both direct and indexed investments, the university ranks among the most financially entangled institutions in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,' Albanese reported. READ MORE: Scottish university agreed to monitor students for arms firm, emails show "The university also partners with firms aiding Israeli military operations, including Leonardo S.p.A. and Ben-Gurion University, through the AI and Data Science Lab at Ben Gurion University, sharing research that directly links it with assaults on Palestinians.' Responding, Professor Colm Harmon, the university's vice-principal students, said: 'We are disappointed that protestors chose to disrupt Thursday's graduation ceremonies. 'We respect lawful and peaceful protest, but having the ceremony interrupted in this way created an intimidating and hostile environment that was deeply disrespectful to our graduates, guests and university staff. 'These events are hugely significant milestones for our graduates and we ask for everyone to be respectful of those who have come to celebrate their achievements with their family and supporters. 'We will continue to do everything we can to minimise disruption and are sorry for the impact this had on what is meant to be a truly important celebratory moment.' READ MORE: 'Why must Palestinians pay?': Holocaust survivor speaks out on Gaza genocide Separately, a spokesperson for the university said that a new Responsible Investment Advisory Group had been set up to 'inform the university's approach to responsible investment, carefully considering the diverse perspectives and concerns of our community'. They added: 'We unequivocally condemn the violence and suffering resulting from events in Israel and Gaza in recent years. 'While our commitment as a global institution to act in accordance with our values is unwavering, it is essential that any actions taken are measured, responsible and fully consultive.' Last week, Edinburgh Napier University cut its live stream off after a student began a pro-Palestine demonstration at a graduation ceremony.
North Wales Live
12 hours ago
- North Wales Live
Woman's legal claim after ‘genocide' pillowcase protest in North Wales
A former Bangor University student is taking legal action following a dramatic protest she made at her graduation. Aishah AlBader claimed her right to freedom of expression was denied when she was dragged off stage for making a Palestine protest. The Kuwaiti national has taken the first step in civil proceedings against the Gwynedd university under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). She is alleging assault/battery, false imprisonment and violating freedom of expression. In a 20-page letter sent to Bangor University, Aishah claimed she was forcibly removed from the stage by security guards when she tried to peacefully protest. She refused to shake the Vice Chancellor's hand, handing him a leaflet about the university's investments, and walked across the stage with a pillowcase bearing the message ' Bangor University invests in Genocide'. Aishah said: 'As I walked up to graduate, I could only think of Gaza - of the students who will never get to graduate, whose lives, dreams, and hopes have been destroyed under Israel's ongoing genocide. Tens of thousands have been killed, entire families wiped out, and schools and universities reduced to rubble.' She undertook the protest as a gesture against Bangor University's investments in companies she claimed were 'complicit in human rights violations against Palestinians and the unlawful occupation of Palestine'. The university said it has an ethical approach to investments and is currently reviewing its policy. Aishah said she could not accept my degree 'in silence', adding: 'I knew I had to use that platform to centre those oppressed and dehumanised in Palestine. So, I held up a pillowcase reading 'Bangor University invests in genocide'. In response, I was dragged off stage, injured and humiliated." She continued: "I lost professional opportunities I had worked hard to earn and lived in fear and uncertainty of the future. My parents travelled thousands of miles to watch my graduation, and it should have been a moment of joy and pride. "I don't believe that holding a pillowcase should ever provoke violence and the pillowcase I held at my graduation revealed a truth that the university is desperate to hide. 'By bringing this case, I hope to affirm that no student should be punished for speaking out against injustices across the globe and in Palestine.' Aishah has hired London legal firm Gold Jennings to represent her. Her lawyers, Alexander Hogg and Jessica Harrison, said their client had intended to peacefully protest at the graduation ceremony. Her legal team said: 'Instead of facilitating Ms AlBader's non-disruptive and peaceful protest, around four university security officers forcibly dragged her from the stage before removing her from the building. She sustained physical injuries from the incident. 'Our client was part of the movement on Bangor University's campus to end the university's continued investments in companies on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions list. 'Her protest was intended to highlight the university's financial ties to firms complicit in what the International Court of Justice found in January 2024 is a plausible genocide in Gaza and the unlawful occupation of Palestine. 'Gold Jennings has been instructed by Ms AlBader to bring a civil claim for assault/battery, false imprisonment, and breach of her rights under Article 8 and 10 ECHR. As things stand, we have sent a letter of claim to Bangor University and are awaiting the university's response.' Alexander Hogg of Gold Jennings said: 'Safeguarding freedom of expression and the right to protest requires upholding them not only when it is convenient but when it is uncomfortable – such as during graduation ceremonies, when principled students draw much needed public attention to universities' unethical investments. 'Moreover, ensuring that universities are held to account when they violate students' right to protest and free speech, such as in the case of my client, not only protects the right to protest and speak out against what is happening in Palestine, it protects the right to protest and speak out on all issues of public importance for everyone. 'My client has taken a brave and first step in holding Bangor University accountable for preventing her from exercising her right to freedom of speech.' A Bangor University spokesperson said: 'We're aware of a claim. As this is an ongoing matter we are unable to comment.' Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox Protest camps During the last academic year, protest groups staged encampments and occupations at universities across the UK, including Bangor and Cardiff. A Palestine protest camp was set up on university land outside the Pontio building in Bangor in May 2024. It lasted a year before the university issued an eviction notice in May this year, followed by a possession order in June. The 'notice to vacate' was handed to the protestors. But when the deadline to vacate passed without compliance, the university said it 'made the difficult decision' to seek a 'possession order' through the courts. This was granted on June 12. A Bangor University spokesperson said at the time: 'This legal action was a necessary step to bring an end to the ongoing disruption to university property and operations. Our priority remains towards ensuring a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all members of our community.' A statement on the university's website, posted in May 2024 and still there, sets out the institution's 'ethical and sustainable' investments policy. It says: 'The university does not choose individual investments itself but has a framework that our investment managers use to create our portfolio. 'Our policy stipulates that we expect a high level of environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) measures to be in place for any potential investment. The university also screens out potential investments in weapons, armaments, alcohol, gambling, tobacco, adult entertainment and fossil fuel companies. 'Bangor University is currently reviewing this investment policy, with initial discussions having already taken place at the investment committee of which the president of the Bangor University Students' Union is a member. 'The university expects that the policy review will be completed over the summer, and that the revised investment policy will be used as a framework by its investment managers to guide future decisions.' Action was also taken to end a Palestine protest camp at Cardiff University. Anyone picketing on Cardiff University property risks being jailed following a High Court injunction obtained in response to the now-disbanded Palestine camp outside the main building.
