Key facts
- A replica mosque was placed on a loyalist bonfire in Moygashel, Northern Ireland.
- Banners on the bonfire read 'secure our borders' and 'end the threat of radical Islam'.
- Britain's minister for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, condemned the act as 'sickening'.
- Police arrested a 56-year-old man on suspicion of displaying threatening material intended to stir up hatred.
- The incident follows recent anti-migrant violence and riots in Belfast.
Northern Ireland police arrested a 56-year-old man over the placement of a replica mosque atop a bonfire in Moygashel, an act widely condemned by politicians and rights groups as a hate crime and incitement to hatred. The bonfire, set to be lit in a predominantly pro-British loyalist area, featured banners with anti-immigrant and anti-Islam slogans, including "secure our borders" and "end the threat of radical Islam." Britain's minister for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, described the display as a "sickening and cowardly act of intimidation." The incident occurred a month after anti-migrant violence and riots swept through Belfast, following a stabbing incident. Last year, a similar bonfire at the same location featured a model of refugees in a boat. The organizers, the Moygashel Bonfire Association, defended the display as a "political protest" against "uncontrolled illegal mass immigration" and a "failure to deport" foreign criminals, citing their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.