A pin badge being sold celebrating the widely condemned bonfire in Co Tyrone last year which featured a boat filled with refugees has been branded as “extremely poor taste”.
The loyalist bonfire in Moygashel made headlines last July after the elaborate display was described as “racist, threatening and offensive”.
The boat containing more than a dozen life-sized mannequins wearing life jackets was unveiled on top of the bonfire.
Below the boat were several placards, one saying “stop the boats” and another “veterans before refugees”.
The contentious bonfire was lit two nights before the annual Twelfth of July celebrations, after the PSNI had declared it was investigating it as a “hate incident”.
Now nine months after the pyre was lit, the Moygashel Bonfire Association, which organises the annual bonfire in the Co Tyrone village, is selling the pin badges featuring the display.
The badges have been put on sale for £5, with an additional £3 for postage and packaging.
The pin features a slogan of “hard truths, solid roots” as well as messages of “Stop the Boats’ alongside a recreation of the effigy.
A post on social media by the bonfire builders featured several individuals requesting to place orders.
Karol McQuade, SDLP councillor for the Dungannon area, described the selling of the pins as “wrong” and that those advertising them “do not speak for the people of Dungannon”.
“These badges are wrong, just as the initial effigy on the bonfire was wrong,” Cllr McQuade said.
“Any attempt to profit from this is in extremely poor taste.
“The people behind this do not speak for the people of Dungannon.
“This is an increasingly diverse place where people of all backgrounds live and work alongside each other, and that should be respected.”
Sinn Féin MLA Colm Gildernew said: “The Moygashel bonfire was a disgraceful and offensive racist display. That display should be roundly condemned and not in any way glorified.
“These badges are an unacceptable replication of this expression of hate and intolerance and they should be an embarrassment to those attempting to sell them. Diversity, inclusion and equality must always triumph over racism and hate.”