{"id":2527,"date":"2025-07-11T13:14:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T13:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/effigies-of-refugees-set-alight-on-bonfire-condemned-in-northern-ireland\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T13:14:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T13:14:42","slug":"effigies-of-refugees-set-alight-on-bonfire-condemned-in-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/effigies-of-refugees-set-alight-on-bonfire-condemned-in-northern-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"Effigies of refugees set alight on bonfire condemned in Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>MOYGASHEL, Northern Ireland &mdash; A model of refugees in a boat, placed on a bonfire in a pro-British town near Belfast, was set alight on Thursday (July 10) night, weeks after migrants&rsquo; homes were attacked nearby.<\/p>\n<p>The display prompted condemnations by politicians across Northern Ireland&rsquo;s political divides, and police said they were investigating it as a hate incident.<\/p>\n<p>Bonfires are lit across the British region in mainly Protestant &ldquo;loyalist&rdquo; neighbourhoods on the eve of the July 12 commemorations of William of Orange&rsquo;s victory over the Roman Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.<\/p>\n<p>Effigies of eight immigrants in life jackets were placed in a model boat alongside an Irish flag on top of the bonfire in the town of Moygashel, 65 km west of Belfast. Banners below the boat read &ldquo;Stop the Boats&rdquo; and &ldquo;Veterans before Refugees&rdquo;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-entity-uuid=\"ab886739-bbbd-4835-9701-5c47cc49e31c\" data-entity-type=\"file\" src=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/250711_Loyalist%20bonfire%20(2)%20(1).jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" data-caption='A loyalist bonfire burns after being set alight, featuring a model effigy of a boat containing mannequins portrayed as migrants in lifejackets, with a sign reading \"Stop the Boats\", during annual bonfire events marking the 1690 Battle of the Boyne, in Moygashel, Northern Ireland on July 10.&lt;br&gt;PHOTO: Reuters'><\/p>\n<p>A large crowd gathered, many filming on their phones, as the more than 50-wooden-pallet-tall bonfire was set alight at nightfall on Thursday. A pipe band played music and fireworks were lit beforehand.<\/p>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/12-weeks-jail-for-school-it-support-technician-who-took-upskirt-videos-of-teachers\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">&lt;div&gt;12 weeks' jail for school IT support technician who took upskirt videos of teachers&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>A member of the regional assembly for Irish nationalists Sinn Fein, Colm Gildernew, called the display &ldquo;deplorable&rdquo; and a &ldquo;clear incitement to hatred&rdquo;.<\/p>\n<p>Ulster Unionist Party leader Mike Nesbitt had joined Gildernew and others in calling for the effigies to be removed before the bonfire was lit and said he condemned them &ldquo;without reservation&rdquo;.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This image is sickening, deplorable and entirely out of step with what is supposed to be a cultural celebration,&rdquo; Nesbitt, who is the region&rsquo;s health minister, wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>Bonfires and parades to mark July 12 have often prompted violence, even after a 1998 peace deal largely ended three decades of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>In June, masked rioters attacked police and set homes and cars on fire in Ballymena, 65 km northeast of Moygashel.<\/p>\n<p>[[nid:718996]]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/migrant-acquitted-in-first-trial-over-us-border-military-zones\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">Migrant acquitted in first trial over US border military zones<\/span><\/a><\/div><p><sub>Effigies of refugees set alight on bonfire condemned in Northern Ireland<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MOYGASHEL, Northern Ireland &mdash; A model of refugees in a boat, placed on a bonfire in a pro-British town near Belfast, was set alight on Thursday (July 10) night, weeks after migrants&rsquo; homes were attacked nearby. The display prompted condemnations by politicians across Northern Ireland&rsquo;s political divides, and police said they were investigating it as&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/effigies-of-refugees-set-alight-on-bonfire-condemned-in-northern-ireland\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Effigies of refugees set alight on bonfire condemned in Northern Ireland&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}