POLICE in Northern Ireland are still “gathering evidence” over the burning of flags, effigies and election posters on bonfires marking ‘The Twelfth’, despite already treating the destruction of Union flags and bunting as a hate crime this week.
Twelfth commemorations in Northern Ireland – which celebrate the victory of King William of Orange over King James II in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 - are traditionally ushered in the evening before with ‘Eleventh Night’ bonfires, and often involve displays of sectarianism and ethnic hatred through the burning of symbols associated with Irish republicanism and Catholicism.
