Police asked to act over replica of mosque on top of bonfire
BBCPolice have been asked to act over a replica of a mosque on top of a bonfire.
The bonfire, in Moygashel in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, has featured other controversial displays in the past.
Patrick Corrigan from Amnesty International called it "a blatant attempt to stir up anti-Muslim hatred and intimidate local families".
He said it needed to be met with a "decisive response" by the police.
"The placing of an effigy of a mosque on top of a bonfire amounts to incitement to hatred directed at real people who live, work and raise families in Northern Ireland," he said.
In 2025, an effigy of refugees in a boat was placed on top of the Moygashel bonfire and was set on fire when the bonfire was lit.
In 2024 a replica of a police car was burnt, while in 2023 a picture of the then Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar and an Irish flag were placed on the bonfire.
he Social Democratic and Labour Party councillor Carl Whyte described the use of the replica mosque as "absolutely disgusting".
"The singling out of an entire religion, an entire faith... is just shameful," he told Good Morning Ulster.
"It's racist," he said, adding that it "doesn't have a place in our society."
Bonfires are lit annually in some unionist areas across Northern Ireland in July to usher in the Twelfth of July, the main date in the parading season.
The majority are lit on 11 July, known as the Eleventh night.
The Twelfth commemorates the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when the Protestant King William III defeated Catholic King James II.
