Bishop calls for 'calm' ahead of nationalist bonfires being lit in Londonderry
Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown called for calm before bonfires were lit in some nationalist areas of the city last night.
The fires are associated with the August anniversary of the introduction of internment without trial during the Troubles, and also coincide with the Catholic Feast of the Assumption.
Before being lit, the bonfire at Meenan Square in the city on Thursday morning featured an Israel flag with the names of US president Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on it.
There was also a king's coronation flag, numerous Union Jacks and an image of a PSNI vehicle on the pyre.
The bonfire at Meenan Square has been the scene of incidents in recent years after police investigated shots being fired near the site and the burning of items that could be treated as potential hate crimes in 2022.
The year previous, the name of Constable Ronan Kerr, who was murdered by dissident republicans in Omagh in 2011, was clearly visible on the side of a pyre, as was former PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne.
Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today on Thursday, Bishop McKeown said: “I hope we have calm, this is a very dignified city, it has been through terrible decades, centuries in the past.
“It has found ways of coming to terms with those and we have got to find ways of recognising the pain of the present and the past, and actually building a future rather than building something that destroys people."
Mr McKeown also stated on the show that he would like to speak to those behind the bonfire to find “a better way forward” and that those who wish to burn effigies or other hate crime items to think again.
Apex Housing Association, which owns the land that the bonfire is being built on, told the BBC that it "not authorised the current activity" by the builders who forced entry onto the site.
Furthermore, Apex stated that no contractors were willing to help due to “health and safety concerns”.