How bonfire night began and its controversies

Bonfires lit on the evening of July 11 and into the early hours of July 12 can be family-orientated events, but the larger ones have been known to draw young aggressive crowds with widespread anti-republican and anti-Papal songs and chants, along with widely documented occurrences like the burning of the Irish tricolour flag, the display of slogans like "Kill All Taigs" and the placing of effgies representing political figures.

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This year alone a controversial bonfire topped with an effigy of a migrant boat in Moygashel, C Tyrone, was described as “inhuman and deeply sub-Christian” by John McDowell, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.