{"id":255429,"date":"2025-07-11T05:59:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T05:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/255429\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T05:59:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T05:59:15","slug":"hate-incident-investigation-after-bonfire-topped-with-migrant-effigy-lit-in-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/255429\/","title":{"rendered":"Hate incident investigation after bonfire topped with migrant effigy lit in Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A loyalist bonfire in Moygashel, Co Tyrone, featuring a controversial effigy of migrants in a boat and an Irish tricolour flag, has been lit.<\/p>\n<p>The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed they are investigating the pyre as a hate incident. The bonfire is one of around 300 expected to be lit across Northern Ireland on Thursday and Friday nights, ahead of the Orange Order\u2019s annual July 12 parades.<\/p>\n<p>The contentious display has drawn widespread criticism from political representatives across the entire spectrum in the region.<\/p>\n<p>Church of Ireland <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/archbishop\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Archbishop;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Archbishop<\/a> of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland John McDowell described it as \u201cracist, threatening and offensive\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International\u2019s Northern Ireland director, described the bonfire as a \u201cvile, dehumanising act that fuels hatred and racism\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caas-img caas-lazy has-preview\" alt=\"A display on a bonfire in Moygashel, Co Tyrone. (Jonathan McCambridge\/PA) (PA Wire)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5566fa2499798721c44d834308a5b2af.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A display on a bonfire in Moygashel, Co Tyrone. (Jonathan McCambridge\/PA) (PA Wire)<\/p>\n<p>The boat containing more than a dozen life-sized mannequins wearing life jackets was unveiled on top of the bonfire.<\/p>\n<p>Below the boat are several placards, one saying \u201cstop the boats\u201d and another \u201cveterans before refugees\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Moygashel bonfire has become well known in recent years for contentious displays.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, a mock police car was burnt on the top of the bonfire and in 2023 a boat designed to represent the post-Brexit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/irish\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Irish;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Irish<\/a> Sea economic border was torched.<\/p>\n<p>Prominent loyalist activist Jamie Bryson said it was a form of \u201cartistic protest\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery year Moygashel bonfire combines artistic protest with their cultural celebration,\u201d he posted on X.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir yearly art has itself become a tradition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis year the focus is on the scandal of mass illegal immigration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Thursday police said they had received a number of reports regarding the bonfire in Moygashel and the material on it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/police\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Police;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Police<\/a> are investigating this hate incident. Police are here to help those who are or who feel vulnerable, to keep people safe,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do this by working with local communities, partners, elected representatives and other stakeholders to deliver local solutions to local problems, building confidence in policing and supporting a safe environment for people to live, work, visit and invest in Northern Ireland, but we can only do so within the legislative framework that exists.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A loyalist bonfire in Moygashel, Co Tyrone, featuring a controversial effigy of migrants in a boat and an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[60290,98170,98171,98169,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-255429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-hate-incident","9":"tag-irish-tricolour-flag","10":"tag-john-mcdowell","11":"tag-moygashel","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114833074638256548","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}