A model depicting refugees in a boat was set ablaze on a bonfire in Moygashel, a pro-British town near Belfast, sparking widespread condemnation from across Northern Ireland’s political spectrum.
The incident occurred Thursday night, just weeks after attacks on homes believed to house migrants in the region.
Police have launched an investigation, treating the act as a potential hate crime.
The display featured eight figures wearing life jackets in a model boat, placed on top of a massive bonfire built from more than 50 wooden pallets. Alongside the boat were banners reading "Stop the Boats" and "Veterans before Refugees," and an Irish flag.
The bonfire was part of annual 11 July celebrations in Protestant loyalist areas, held on the eve of commemorations for King William of Orange’s 1690 victory at the Battle of the Boyne. Bonfires and parades marking the occasion have historically sparked unrest, even after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought relative peace to Northern Ireland.
Footage shared online showed a large crowd watching the bonfire being lit, accompanied by fireworks and music from a pipe band.
Sinn Féin lawmaker Colm Gildernew condemned the act as "deplorable" and accused it of inciting hatred.
Ulster Unionist Party leader and current health minister Mike Nesbitt also criticised the display, saying it was “sickening, deplorable and entirely out of step with what is supposed to be a cultural celebration.”
Both had previously urged for the effigies to be removed before the fire.
The incident follows recent unrest in Ballymena, where masked individuals attacked police, and set homes and vehicles ablaze, raising further concerns about growing tensions surrounding immigration and cultural expressions.
The U.S. will impose "never seen before" measures on Iran in order to economically isolate the country, Washington's Treasury Secreta...
President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. Navy to abandon its next planned electromagnetic aircraft launch sy...
A diplomatic dispute has erupted between Cuba and the Dominican Republic after Santo Domingo ordered the withdr...
Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has increased the strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, raising fears that instability in both waterways could trigger a wider global energy and trade crisis.
Flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended until early Friday as ash from Mount Etna continues to disrupt air travel, following hundreds of cancellations and diversions over the past week.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains under its control, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of “total control” over the strategic waterway and insisting it will not reopen until Washington fulfils its commitments under an interim deal.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
Russia has accused Ukraine of threatening global grain supplies after recent strikes on Black Sea agricultural infrastructure, while Moscow carried out a new overnight attack on Ukraine’s major Danube port of Izmail.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Ebola outbreak has spread to a sixth province. A man died of the virus in Bas-Uélé in the north, the African Union’s health agency said.
President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. Navy to abandon its next planned electromagnetic aircraft launch system and return to steam-powered catapults on a future aircraft carrier, while also authorising limited overseas ship construction to help address naval capacity shortfalls.
A diplomatic dispute has erupted between Cuba and the Dominican Republic after Santo Domingo ordered the withdrawal of several Cuban diplomats and their family members, prompting a sharp response from Havana.
Brazil has taken the first formal step towards potential retaliatory action against the United States following the Trump administration's decision to impose new tariffs on Brazilian exports, signalling a further deterioration in relations between the two countries.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that reports about poor conditions aboard aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East were "completely misrepresented."
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment