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Anti-immigration messages placed on bonfires

Claire Grahamand
Emmet McElhatton,BBC News NI
BBC A tall bonfire sits on a grassy green. It has union jacks on it as well as a larger, dark banner. BBC
A huge banner has been hung from a bonfire in Belfast, depicting small boats, political parties and masked men holding knives

A large anti-immigration poster, which includes pictures of NI politicians, has been placed on a bonfire next to a playground in north Belfast.

The image, prominently positioned on a bonfire on Shore Crescent, depicts a herd of sheep walking through a gate to a group of masked men armed with knives.

The banner, draped from the bonfire, also includes images of small boats and depictions of political parties Sinn Féin, SDLP, Alliance Party and People Before Profit.

A number of other anti-immigration slogans and images have also been prominently displayed at other bonfire sites across the city.

The poster in north Belfast says: "Open gates open borders open season. Your sheep their feast."

The fires are lit every year as part of celebrations in some unionist areas, ahead of the Orange Order's Twelfth of July parades. While most pass off without any controversy, some are contentious.

Hoarding outside a set of terrace houses sprayed with graffiti reading: STOP THE BOATS'. A car is parked to the left.
Boarding erected to protect houses from the heat of a bonfire due to be lit in Carrickfergus has been daubed with graffiti
Spray-painted in black lettering on the chipboard hoarding is the message 'ISLAM IS HEATHEN, SATANIC AND SPAWNED'
This graffiti was put on boarding

Boarding used to protect homes from bonfires has been sprayed in anti-Islam graffiti in Carrickfergus.

The bonfire, in the Glenfield estate, is close to homes which have been boarded up as a preventative measure ahead of the pyre being lit.

Messages such as "Islam is heathen" were seen next to the site on Saturday night.

'PSNI Islam lovers'

Blue spray paint on a wooden board rests against a lamppost and reads 'PSNI ISLAM LOVERS'. Behind is a mural on a terrace house that cannot be made out.
Near the O'Neill Road bonfire in north Belfast
Three topless men sit in front of an unlit bonfire, with bottles of wine beside them. A Union Jack hangs limp from a post near them.
Various flags and handmade signs have been pinned to a north Belfast bonfire

Next to the O'Neill Road bonfire in north Belfast, signs left said: "Islamic terror not wanted here" and "PSNI Islam lovers" with crosshairs also drawn on.

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.