The Irish Independent's View: Tradition is one thing, but there is no room for blatant thuggery

Irish Independent

2 days ago

The stunt was rightly branded racist and threatening. Mike Nesbitt, the Ulster Unionist Party leader, said: 'This image is sickening, deplorable.'
Amnesty International's Northern Ireland director, Patrick Corrigan, said: 'It is shameful the authorities allowed this despicable display of hate to go ahead.'
He noted only weeks ago how migrant families were forced to flee for their lives when their homes were attacked and set on fire.
This was not the first time the Moygashel pyre has been the focus of outrage. A Vauxhall Vectra done up as a PSNI patrol car was given pride of place on top of the pallets last year.
How the burning of refugee effigies or mock police vehicles can be accommodated in any cultural tradition raises questions that ought to be called out.
The intention is to destabilise and divide. It springs from a resentment that has got lost in its own darkness – a banner reading 'Good Friday Agreement' was also torched.
Former loyalist paramilitary David Adams probably spoke for many when he said: 'I was deeply depressed when I saw it. I think it is horrendous.'
The letters KAT (Kill All Taigs) were daubed on a Tricolour in West Belfast
It would be unfair to taint the Orange Order for every slogan or ill-conceived stunt by an over-zealous mob, but as it prides itself on being a religious organisation, it must recognise its responsibility to keep a safe distance from sectarianism.
Just as perplexing — or perhaps even more so — was the refusal by the PSNI to dismantle a South Belfast bonfire, despite the site being covered in asbestos and the flames representing a risk to hospital power supplies.
Environment minister Andrew Muir — an Alliance Party MLA — said: 'There are many ways to celebrate, but not at this site.'
Orange Order grand secretary Mervyn Gibson said people should 'go and enjoy themselves' at the bonfire. He described a council committee vote earlier this week to remove it as 'political decision'.
Separately, signage on a Shankill Road bonfire has also been deemed offensive. The letters KAT (Kill All Taigs) were daubed on a Tricolour in West Belfast.
Communities across the North rightly insist on having their traditions respected, but that becomes considerably more difficult when they are undermined by their own actions.
It is many years since Ian Paisley said: 'I believe Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule.'
But the words of Nobel Peace Prize laureate John Hume also bear recalling: 'Difference is the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it.'