‘Migrant boat bonfire' investigated as a hate crime in Northern Ireland
The BBC reported that local police had received several reports from the public relating to the bonfire, which was lit in the town of Moygashel, 65 kilometres west of Belfast, on Thursday, UK time.
Bonfires are lit across Northern Ireland in mainly Protestant 'loyalist' neighbourhoods on the eve of the July 12 commemorations of William of Orange's victory over the Roman Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
Pictures and effigies of Catholic Irish politicians and anti-Catholic slogans are often placed on some of the bonfires, which are often several storeys high and built from wooden pallets in the weeks ahead of July 12.
In Moygashel, figures of eight migrants in life jackets were placed in a model boat alongside an Irish flag on top of the bonfire built from hundreds of wooden pallets.
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Banners below the boat read 'Stop the Boats' and 'Veterans before Refugees.'
Social media footage showed a crowd gathered around the bonfire as a marching band played.
A member of the regional assembly for Irish nationalists Sinn Fein, Colm Gildernew, called the display 'deplorable' and a 'clear incitement to hatred' that must be removed immediately.
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