Northern Ireland: Police must act with urgency on anti-Muslim bonfire display

Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Director, said:

"This vile display is a blatant attempt to stir up anti-Muslim hatred and intimidate local families. It must be met with a decisive response by the police.

"The placing of an effigy of a mosque on top of a bonfire amounts to incitement to hatred directed at real people who live, work and raise families in Northern Ireland.

"It is a crime under Northern Ireland law to distribute materials that are intended or likely to stir up racial or religious hatred or arouse fear.

"The police must investigate this as a potential crime, identify and hold to account those responsible, and ensure this material is swiftly removed before it can be used to incite further hatred and violence."

This display and the recent proliferation of racist banners elsewhere send a chilling message to migrant families and minority ethnic communities at a time when many are already feeling vulnerable in the wake of racist violence. Amnesty International notes that Islamophobia has become an increasing trend among the far-right in Northern Ireland, including a pipe bomb attack on Belfast Islamic Centre last year during evening prayer.

Amnesty International has previously condemned the authorities for allowing an effigy of migrants in a small boat to be burned on a bonfire last year despite widespread condemnation. The organisation's position is that allowing such hate-filled public spectacles to go ahead has helped to normalise racism in Northern Ireland and has fuelled the rise in race hate crime, which is now at the highest levels since records began in 2004.