Burning of effigies should be treated as hate crime – Orange Order chief

Larne Bonfire. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

The burning of posters and effigies of people on Eleventh night bonfires should be treated as a hate crime, the grand secretary of the Orange Order has said.

There has been widespread condemnation after photographs emerged of hanging effigies of Sinn Féin president and vice-president Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill, as well as Alliance Party leader Naomi Long, on a bonfire in Carrickfergus on Monday.