Moygashel, Northern Ireland - Police are investigating a loyalist bonfire as a hate incident after lifesize mannequins representing refugees were set on fire during a public gathering.

Footage posted by X user The Ulster Bulwark shows flames consuming a mock refugee boat in Moygashel, County Tyrone, as onlookers cheer.

Inside the boat were twelve dark-skinned mannequins wearing lifejackets. Placards nearby read “stop the boats” and “veterans before refugees.” An Ireland flag was also burned.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland had announced earlier in the day that they were treating the display as a hate incident.

Political leaders had condemned the bonfire before it was lit, calling it racist and demanding that the effigies be removed or the bonfire dismantled.

In Belfast, another bonfire — one of about 300 across Northern Ireland — is expected to be ignited Friday night. It has caused alarm due to its location on an asbestos-contaminated site near a substation supplying power to two hospitals. Environment Minister Andrew Muir urged people not to attend.

The Moygashel fire has drawn fresh criticism, coming just weeks after anti-immigrant riots in Ballymena.

Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty International said, “It is shameful that the authorities allowed this despicable display of hate to go ahead.”

Sinn Féin representative Colm Gildernew called the mannequins “abhorrent” and urged that those involved be held accountable. Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said the scene was “sickening, deplorable and entirely out of step with what is supposed to be a cultural celebration.”

Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson defended the bonfire, describing it as “artistic protest” and part of “cultural celebration.”