Attempts to normalize this as some kind of folksy traditional community bonfire thing requires such levels of misdirection and sleight of a hand that they'd be

Attempts to normalize this as some kind of folksy traditional community bonfire thing requires such levels of misdirection and sleight of a hand that they'd be better off doing magic shows in Vegas. These kinds of events are purely and simply displays of racist and sectarian hate - no different from burning crosses in Alabama. The effigies of the Pope are the more friendly of the things burned on these bonfires, the less palatable include Irish and Basque flags for whatever reason, slogans exhorting genocide, and even pictures of previous sectarian murder victims [1][2]. It's a thoroughly vile event that happens each year, wrapped up in some false sense of "culture". [1] - https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/sectarian-bonfires-condemned-after-flags-24470773 https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/sectarian-bo... [2] - https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/police-treating-material-on-rathcoole-bonfire-as-hate-crime/a848728777.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/pol...