Police in Northern Ireland are treating the display of flags and banners on a bonfire in Londonderry’s Bogside as a hate crime. The bonfire at Meenan Square, which included union flags and Israel flags, was lit on Thursday night.
Politicians have condemned the burning of the emblems. DUP MLA Gary Middleton said it “shouldn’t be tolerated in a normal society”, while Sinn Féin MLA Pádraig Delargy called it “unacceptable and disrespectful”. The bonfire also featured a King Charles coronation flag and a flag of Israel with the names of US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alongside a swastika and crosshair.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is investigating the material placed on bonfires in Derry and treating them as hate crimes. Mr Middleton urged a move away from burning flags and emblems, stating such actions “don’t further anybody’s culture”. Mr Delargy contrasted the bonfire with positive community events like the Féile Derry festival.
Bishop of Derry the Right Reverend Donal McKeown had appealed for calm ahead of the bonfire, which was built on private land owned by Apex Housing Association. The association said it could not find a contractor willing to clear the site. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service reported no bonfire-related incidents in Derry on Thursday night.
Previous bonfires at Meenan Square have attracted criticism, including shots fired near the site in 2022 and political material placed on the fire in 2021. Bonfires on 15 August are traditional in some nationalist areas to mark the Catholic Feast of the Assumption, while others commemorate the introduction of internment without trial in 1971.
