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 Fein 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.
The PSNI has launched an investigation into the incident. Rev Mervyn Gibson said there is no question the incidents are hate crimes.
