In a tradition dating back more than 300 years, towering pyres are lit every July in Northern Ireland to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne, effectively cementing Protestant rule.
The festival is held in Loyalist areas (communities that strongly support union with Britain) and has often carried political messages in the past, including the burning of statues of the Pope, the Republic of Ireland flag and other symbols of Catholicism and Irish nationalism.
But this year, a new target for the blaze was found in the village of Moygachel, County Tyrone.
A replica of the mosque, with what appeared to be an ISIS flag and a banner on its tower reading “Secure our borders” and “End the threat of Islamic extremism”, was set on fire on Thursday night.
The responsible group, the Mogyashel Bonfire Association, said it was aware that their display could “offend and outrage others” and blamed “uncontrolled mass illegal immigration” for the “protests”.
This was a departure from the traditional Eleventh Night bonfires, which were lit in mainly working-class Protestant neighborhoods on the eve of the parade celebrating William III’s victory over the Catholic King James II in 1690.
The bonfire is a centerpiece of the Loyalist calendar, emphasizing an identity built on being British. Many of its supporters insist they have nothing to do with politics, and that the pallet towers are an expression of cultural and cherished heritage. But many Catholic and Republican neighbors have long found them intimidating.
In Moygachel, police treated the display as a “hate-motivated crime” and charged a 56-year-old man with inciting hatred. The man denied the charges at a hearing on Friday but was refused bail.
Northern Ireland Police Chief Superintendent Norman Haslett said in a statement: “Had the bonfire not been lit, police would have secured the scene, removed the offending items and seized them as evidence.” “Hate crimes have no place in our society and will not be tolerated.”
The fire comes amid a rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes in Northern Ireland and across the UK. Last month, riots erupted across the capital, with anti-immigration demonstrators clashing with police, homes and vehicles set on fire, and authorities deploying water cannons.
Amnesty International said racial hate crime in Northern Ireland is at its highest level since records began in 2004, and the Moygashel display was a “blatant attempt to incite anti-Muslim hatred and intimidate local families”. The rights group added that allowing such spectacles to take place is helping to normalize racism in Northern Ireland.
This pattern extends to other parts of the UK. According to the Islamic Council of Britain (MCB), the representative body for Britain’s Muslim community, an average of four to five anti-Muslim incidents were reported each week in June alone, with more than 40% of these being arson or incendiary attacks.
For Naomi Green, MCB’s deputy general secretary, who lives in Northern Ireland, this week’s events are no surprise.
“People are welcome to celebrate their culture in any way they like,” she said. The problem, she added, is that “expressions of hatred” and “incitement against specific groups” are increasing.
Last year, the same Moygashel firewood burned a statue of migrants on a boat. The people on the boat represented people of color, and one of them appeared to be wearing Islamic clothing.
“I felt physically sick,” she said of the 2025 exhibit, noting that the same group has been selling badges at bonfires ever since. “No action has been taken…and that has been possible to some extent this year,” she said.
This week’s incident drew widespread condemnation. The Church of Ireland and the Catholic Archdiocese issued a rare joint statement on Thursday, calling it “grossly offensive”. British Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn called it a “disgusting and despicable act of intimidation”.
Researchers and human rights monitors say sectarian violence has been replaced by racially motivated violence in areas where old structures of sectarian hostility persist and are recycled.
The Moygashel Bonfire Association defended the display as “legally protected expression” and “political protest”, saying its opposition “is not against people, but rather against ideology and government policy”.
Green said better leadership and responsible conversations are needed.
“We put politicians on the radio and talk about foreign cultures, we talk about groups of barbaric people. We talk about them as if all the Muslims in Northern Ireland were beheading people, introducing Sharia law and marrying off their children. That’s not who we are,” she said.
In addition to anti-immigrant riots that erupted in parts of Belfast in June, similar riots broke out last summer in which buildings housing migrants were attacked and set on fire.
“A lot of the rhetoric around it was Muslim and conflating Muslims as immigrants and illegal aliens. You know, even though Muslims are part of society here, it’s all sort of categorized,” Green said.
