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Fears over 'anti-internment' bonfire near Belfast flats

A bonfire being built beside the New Lodge flats in north Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell
A bonfire being built beside the New Lodge flats in north Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell A bonfire being built beside the New Lodge flats in north Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell

SAFETY concerns have been raised over an 'anti-internment' bonfire being built near several blocks of flats in north Belfast.

The bonfire is being constructed beside the New Lodge flats near Victoria Parade, off North Queen Street.

Mattresses scrawled with messages that read "dump wood here" have been placed nearby.

Bonfires are lit in some nationalist areas to mark the anniversary of the introduction of internment on August 9 1971.

Sinn Féin councillor JJ Magee condemned the bonfire and said the local community is "totally against it".

A hand-written 'dump wood' message near the bonfire. Picture by Hugh Russell
A hand-written 'dump wood' message near the bonfire. Picture by Hugh Russell A hand-written 'dump wood' message near the bonfire. Picture by Hugh Russell

He said the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the damage caused to windows of flats by an Eleventh Night bonfire near Belfast's Sandy Row showed the risks of fire.

"The dangers are that this bonfire is in a very confined location. At the moment the wood is very close to a daycare nursery, it's very close to the tower blocks and people's houses, but there is also a danger to the young people who are collecting this wood," he said.

"It brings it all home to everybody how dangerous these bonfires are, not just what happened in London but what happened in Sandy Row.

"It's not just a myth that these bonfires are dangerous."

Mr Magee said hundreds of pallets have already been removed from the area after being found stored on concerned householders' property.

Picture by Hugh Russell
Picture by Hugh Russell Picture by Hugh Russell

"We're working hard with the statutory agencies. We're meeting on a constant basis," he said.

"We have lifted over 300 pallets from people's back gardens – people living in fear of them getting lit overnight.

"We have lifted some from around the tower blocks. It's a constant cat-and-mouse game."

The city councillor said those behind the bonfire are young people who do not consider it anything to do with marking the anniversary of internment.

"It's local youths, a local anti-social element within the community who are setting this up. They see it as a bit of fun."

He urged them to "think first and foremost of the community that they are living in and think of the residents who don't want this bonfire", adding: "This is making their lives a misery."

It comes amid criticism of how Belfast City Council and other public agencies handled loyalist bonfires ahead of the Twelfth.

The council has launched an investigation after The Irish News revealed that it had been storing pallets for some Eleventh Night bonfires at ratepayers' expense.

On Sunday night, police confiscated pallets that were believed to have been intended for an anti-internment pyre.

Officers stopped two young men following a report that pallets had been taken from an Ormeau Road business.

A PSNI spokesman said: "Police attended the scene and observed two young males with a number of pallets close to junction of Ormeau Road and Cromac Street.

"Police spoke with the two males and recorded their details. The pallets were removed from the youths and returned to the premises.

"Police enquiries into the incident are continuing."

BBC presenter Stephen Nolan, who noticed the police operation, said officers were stacking the pallets into their vehicle.

"It just looked bizarre," he said on his Radio Ulster show.