Police Launch Hate Crime Investigation as ‘Vile and Racist’ Effigy of Small Boat Migrants Is Burned

A hate crime probe has been launched after a ‘vile’ and ‘racist’ effigy of lifejacket-clad small boat migrants was set ablaze on top of a Northern Ireland bonfire.

Signs saying ‘Stop the boats’ and ‘Veterans before refugees’ were also attached to the pyre in the village of Moygashel, near Dungannon, County Tyrone, earlier this week.

Despite widespread condemnation and calls to take it down, the effigy was burned at around 11pm on Thursday, prompting the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to investigate it as a ‘hate incident’.

It was erected as part of the annual loyalist Twelfth of July parades, where Protestants celebrate William of Orange’s victory over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

The towering bonfires, built with wooden pallets, are mostly torched on the Tenth and Eleventh Night and have long been synonymous with Protestant culture.

But in recent years, the Moygashel bonfires have come under scrutiny for their controversial displays which have seen them venture into politics and contentious cultural points.

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 Irish Sea economic border was torched.

The latest display, which was also topped with an Irish tricolour, was branded ‘shameful’.

Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director Patrick Corrigan said: ‘It is shameful that the authorities allowed this despicable display of hate to go ahead.

‘What a shocking message to send to local migrant families.

‘It is just weeks since migrant families were forced to flee for their lives when their homes were attacked and set on fire – a chilling pattern of escalating hostility.

‘The authorities must treat this as a hate crime, conduct a full investigation and ensure those responsible are held to account.’

Mr Corrigan added: ‘Racism, xenophobia, and hate have no place here – and that must be made unmistakably clear.’

PSNI said it had received ‘a number of reports’ regarding the bonfire ‘and the material that has been placed upon it’ and that it was now subject to investigation.

{snip}

Sinn Fein MLA Colm Gildernew said the bonfire ‘was clearly intended to dehumanise people who come to our island seeking a better life’.

He added: ‘The effigies and displays were abhorrent, driven by vile, far-right and racist attitudes.

{snip}