{"id":643595,"date":"2026-08-18T13:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/643595\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T13:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:10:13","slug":"why-are-republican-bonfires-in-derry-being-treated-as-sectarian-motivated-hate-crimes-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/643595\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are republican bonfires in Derry being treated as \u2018sectarian-motivated hate crimes\u2019? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the last 11 days, more than 20,000 people attended over 150 events featuring 2,500 participants at Derry<\/a>\u2019s F\u00e9ile, but three bonfires got the headlines. <\/p>\n

The pyres, lit on the Lecky Road in the Bogside, Bligh\u2019s Lane in Creggan, and Corrody Road in the Waterside, are being treated by police as \u201csectarian-motivated hate crimes\u201d<\/a> because of material placed on them. <\/p>\n

Most were flags and emblems associated with unionism and loyalism, including Union flags, poppy wreaths and sashes, but also political material and, on the Bogside bonfire, a picture of the First Minister, Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> vice-president Michelle O\u2019Neill<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It is far from the first time O\u2019Neill, or indeed politicians in general, have been thus targeted and it has been widely condemned, including by O\u2019Neill herself, who wrote on social media that this was \u201cthe very opposite of republicanism\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI will continue to call out sectarianism, anti-community activity and destruction wherever it comes from,\u201d she wrote, adding that such bonfires \u201care a blight on our community\u201d. <\/p>\n

Yet just as sectarianism persists, so too do bonfires remain a feature of the northern summer in both nationalist and loyalist areas. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it\u2019s disappointing to see those emblems on the bonfire \u2013 disappointing to see the bonfire at all \u2013 but it\u2019s important to put it into context in that we had a huge community festival in the Bogside area, and it was really successful,\u201d says Foyle MP Colum Eastwood<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we need to move away from bonfires, and anyone aping the worst elements of loyalist culture needs to get their act together,\u201d he says. \u201cBut they are a tiny minority.\u201d <\/p>\n

That tiny minority are dissident republicans; the local view is that, in recent years, Sinn F\u00e9in has lost support among a younger generation that is easily manipulated \u2013 and brought on to the streets \u2013 through the presence of dissidents, albeit few in number. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Derry bonfire banner with name of murdered officer a \u2018hate crime\u2019, police federation saysOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

There was anger, too, that pallets being stored for the bonfire were removed last week by the Department of Infrastructure, with police support. \u201cIt was right and proper that this material was removed,\u201d O\u2019Neill told media in Derry ahead of an appearance at F\u00e9ile. <\/p>\n

The festival in the Bogside and its surrounding areas began, like its larger Belfast cousin, F\u00e9ile an Phobail, in the 1990s, as an alternative to the violent disorder that often accompanied contentious events such as bonfires and marches. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis issue around bonfires is something that rears its head year on year, but it\u2019s something that we will continue to provide diversionary activity around, in the hope that in years to come they will become a thing of the past,\u201d says F\u00e9ile\u2019s festival director, Gareth Stewart. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, there are elements within our society who choose to exploit children and young people\u2026 this is done by adults who are taking young people down a path that can lead to prison, or worse,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s no other word for it other than child abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Palestine conflict fuelling Derry divisions, warns Protestant community leaderOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In their youth work, \u201cour job is to create a society where our young people can achieve their potential and realise their dreams, not fall into the trap that is sectarianism\u201d, says Stewart. <\/p>\n

But, he warns, tackling sectarianism will take \u201csignificant investment from multiple sources\u201d and \u201cat the moment, that doesn\u2019t exist in Derry\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the last 11 days, more than 20,000 people attended over 150 events featuring 2,500 participants at Derry\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,89819,955,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,34866,5,47,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-643595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-colum-eastwood","tag-derry","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-michelle-o-neill","tag-news","tag-sinn-fein","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117116680528059311","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}