A flag calling for police officers and Protestants to be killed has been erected beside a republican bonfire site in the Creggan area of Derry.
The black flag, featuring the words “kill all cops” and “kill all Huns”, has been tied to a roadside sign across the road from where the Creggan bonfire is due to be lit on Saturday.
The flag also includes the words “Creggan Republican Youth”, alongside an armed figure and a police Land Rover set against a tricolour.
It appeared as the bonfire, which is due to be lit on Saturday to mark the Catholic Feast of the Assumption and the anniversary of the introduction of internment, reached around 40 feet in height.
SDLP Foyle MP Colum Eastwood said those responsible do not represent the area and called for the flag to be taken down.
He told The Irish News: “A flag calling for police officers and Protestants to be killed is sectarian hatred, nothing more, and the people behind it don’t represent Creggan or the people of Derry.
“There’s nothing republican about threatening your neighbours. We’ve seen enough of this kind of nonsense around bonfires, and it does nothing but drag communities backwards.
“Those responsible should take the flag down. There can’t be one standard for sectarianism in one community and another somewhere else. This kind of hatred needs to be challenged and called out for what it is.
“The vast majority of people in Derry simply want to get on with their lives, live in peace with their neighbours and see our city move forward.”
The flag has gone up during a week of heightened tension over bonfires in the city.
Pallets gathered for an August 15 bonfire in the Bogside were removed in a dawn operation on Wednesday from a storage area beneath the Lecky Road flyover.
Disorder followed in the area and police were attacked hours later.
Police said a mattress and pallets were set alight in the flyover area, a motorbike was seen burning, and a petrol bomb was thrown at officers on Bishop Street during incidents on Wednesday evening.
Bonfires in Derry have drawn condemnation in previous years for burning flags, poppy wreaths and placards bearing the names of individuals.
A PSNI spokesman said: “Police are aware of a flag that has been attached to street furniture in the area of Bligh’s Lane in Creggan. Enquiries are ongoing into this incident, which is being treated as a sectarian-motivated hate crime.
“The potential removal of the flag will be considered in line with our Service Instruction, which states that each complaint relating to a public display is assessed on a case by case basis.”