Bonfire with mosque replica placed on top set alight

A bonfire with a replica mosque placed on top of it has been lit before the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) could remove the effigy.

Police said it "commenced a significant and complex policing operation" to remove a "hate display".

A spokesperson said the operation was at an "advanced stage when the bonfire was lit".

The bonfire, in Moygashel in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, has featured other controversial displays in the past.

A spokesperson for the PSNI said: "Had the bonfire not been lit police would have secured the site and removed the offending material and seized it as evidence."

Police also confirmed a 56-year-old man who was arrested in connection with the effigy has been charged with incitement to hatred and is due to appear before Dungannon Magistrates Court on Friday.

The PSNI added the investigation into this "hate motivated crime" is ongoing.

Chief Superintendent Norman Haslett said: "Hate crime has no place in our society and will not be tolerated.

"That is why tonight we commenced a proactive policing operation to take action and remove the hate display from Moygashel bonfire.

"In advance of police arrival the bonfire was set alight a day in advance to prevent removal of the criminal material."

The effigy was placed on top of the pyre on Wednesday and the bonfire was due to be lit on Friday.

The lighting of the bonfire comes after a day of condemnation with Justice Minister Naomi Long describing the effigy as a "nauseating spectacle of hatred" and called on the people who built the bonfire to take it down.

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said it was as a "sickening and cowardly act of intimidation".

In its statement, Moygashel Bonfire Association said the display might "shock, offend or outrage", but said those involved in making it were exercising their right to freedom of expression.

It is not the first time Moygashel's annual bonfire has featured a contentious display.

In 2025, an effigy of refugees in a boat was placed on top of the 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.

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.