A Protestant Archbishop has condemned as “racist, threatening and offensive” an effigy of migrants in a boat which was burned during a Twelfth of July bonfire in Moygashel, County Tyrone.
A large crowd watched as mannequins dressed as Channel-crossing migrants were set alight atop a pyre marked with slogans like “stop the boats” and “veterans before refugees”, as reported by NewsLetter.
Archbishop John McDowell of the Church of Ireland said the display is completely at odds with Christian teaching and has “nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity or with Protestant culture”.
Quoting Leviticus, he reminded people: “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
He added: “It exposes that effigy for what it is – racist, threatening and offensive… inhuman and deeply sub-Christian.”
Political figures also criticised the burning. DUP representatives said the display should not have gone ahead, while UUP leader Mike Nesbitt described it as “sickening, deplorable and entirely out of step” with the spirit of cultural celebrations.
However, the local bonfire committee has defended the stunt, insisting it was a protest against illegal immigration rather than a racist act.