Moygashel, United Kingdom. A replica of a mosque placed on a bonfire in Moygashel near Belfast was set alight on Thursday night before police could remove what they described as a “hate display.” Politicians across Northern Ireland condemned the installation.
Bonfire lit before planned removal
Bonfires are lit across Northern Ireland in mainly Protestant loyalist neighbourhoods on the eve of July 12 commemorations of William of Orange’s victory over the Roman Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
The mosque replica, built on a tall structure of wooden pallets, had been erected a month after anti-migrant violence swept Belfast. Organisers said on Facebook that it was due to be set alight in front of large crowds on Friday, but it was lit a day early as police were preparing to remove it.
Police response and court appearance
Police Chief Superintendent Norman Haslett said that if the bonfire had not been lit, police would have secured the site, removed the offending material and seized it as evidence.
“Had the bonfire not been lit, police would have secured the site and removed the offending material and seized it as evidence. Hate crime has no place in our society and will not be tolerated,” Haslett said in a statement.
A 56-year-old man charged with incitement to hatred is due to appear in court on Friday.
Political condemnation
Britain’s minister for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, described the display on Thursday as a “sickening and cowardly act of intimidation.”
Context of recent tensions
Anti-migrant imagery has in some cases replaced pictures and effigies of Catholic Irish politicians and anti-Catholic slogans that have commonly been placed on some bonfires.
A model of refugees in a boat was set alight last year at the same location in Moygashel, 65 km west of Belfast. That followed a period of violence in which migrants’ homes were attacked.
Rioters attacked homes and businesses of ethnic minorities in riots last month after a viral video showed a stabbing in which a man lost an eye. A man whom police say is from Sudan or Chad has been charged with attempted murder.
Details of the display
The mosque replica had an effigy of a person in one window holding an item that looked like a knife. Banners below it read “secure our borders” and “end the threat of radical Islam.”
