Sinn Féin has condemned a loyalist bonfire decorated with an effigy of a mosque as “pure racism” and said it has caused “huge fear and anxiety”.
Loyalists traditionally light bonfires on the Eleventh Night, ahead of the Battle of the Boyne anniversary on 12th July.
The tradition is rooted in the legend that the ancestors of today’s Ulster Protestants lit bonfires to guide King William to Ireland’s shores in 1690.
An effigy of Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O'Neill on the Eastvale Avenue bonfire in Dungannon. Picture by: Alamy.com.However, the tradition often attracts controversy, with some communities burning symbols of their nationalist neighbours - such as Irish flags or election posters of republican candidates.
This year, Moygashel loyalists placed an effigy of a mosque on their bonfire and set it alight after the PSNI said they planned to remove it.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Sinn Féin MLA Colm Gildernew described it as a “deplorable act”.
“This is a deplorable hate crime, has to be condemned by all concerned and has created huge fear and anxiety across our community here in Tyrone,” he said.
The Fermanagh-South Tyrone representative added that the placement of a mosque effigy on a bonfire was “pure racism”.
“It was designed totally to provoke, to create targets out there of people, to identify people based on generalisations,” he argued.
“I think it's part of a pattern in this bonfire actually; there's been a series of images over the years, all based on intolerance, all based on hatred and it is something that's just totally unacceptable.”
A traditional Eleventh Night bonfire. Picture by: Alamy.com.Mr Gildernew continued that he regularly engages with members of the local Protestant community and that many Moygashel locals have reached out to him, raising their concerns about the bonfire.
“They themselves feel intimidated year on year with these massive bonfires being lit and with images like this being placed on them,” he said.
“So, I think what we cannot allow any space for intolerance, for racism or for hatred. We must stand together against that.”
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At the last census, there were roughly 10,000 Muslims living in Northern Ireland - less than 1% of the population - and Mr Gildernew said he was especially concerned about the impact of the bonfire on them.
“Individual people, families, children, who are looking out from their homes and seeing images representing their place of worship on top of a fire - that absolutely creates huge fear and huge anxiety and uncertainty,” he said.
“We have a duty as politicians and as community leaders, we have a duty to stand up and say that's not acceptable, it's not representative of who we are and we stand with you.
“I mean people from the Muslim community have made it very clear how fearful they are at this time and I think there's a duty on all of us to address that.”
A 56-year-old man has been arrested and charged with incitement to hatred by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
He is due to appear before Dungannon Magistrates Court today.
Main image: Bonfire in Tyrone.
