STORMONT ministers met last night to discuss controversial bonfire sites including one at an interface in north Belfast.
Infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon, communities boss Deirdre Hargey and justice chief Naomi Long sat down just hours after contractors supported by the PSNI removed material from a site in east Belfast.
SDLP sources last night held to the party's position that it is “adamant” there cannot be a bonfire at the north Belfast site.
The controversial pyre is located at Adam Street, off Duncairn Gardens, at the interface between the nationalist New Lodge and loyalist Tigers Bay districts.
The site falls under the responsibility of Ms Mallon, who is also an SDLP assembly member for the area.
It is understood Ms Mallon will make the final decision on its future within days.
An ominous sign appeared on the pyre last night warning "move at your own risk".
The meeting of ministers came after bonfire builders in Tigers Bay claimed that a series of compromises proposed by them have been rejected.
In a statement on the Loyalist Tigersbay Bonfire Facebook page, it was claimed that "community representatives, supported by local politicians, engaged with bonfire builders and made several proposals".
These included "moving the bonfire back to protect life and property, reducing its size and scale, removing toxic materials, no offensive flags or emblems and engaging with the PSNI and NIFRS.
"All of these sensible compromises were rejected out of hand, wilfully ignoring the current climate we find ourselves in."
Organisers say they also rejected a "proposal to remove the bonfire and relocate a beacon".
Adam Street is believed to be one of three major bonfires sites the PSNI last week said are “causing concern”.
Earlier this month members of a Belfast City Council committee agreed to send contractors into two bonfire sites in north and east Belfast considered to be a risk to life and property.
It is believed Bloomfield Walkway was the east Belfast site while the second is Adam Street.
Material was removed from Bloomfield Walkway at around 2am on Sunday by Belfast City Council contractors supported by the PSNI.
East Belfast PUP councillor John Kyle has said that if bonfire material reappears it will also be removed.
"I don't think it will be replaced," he said.
"I think that the view is very clear from the community, from the statutory authorities, from the police that it's not a place to build a bonfire.
Mr Kyle added that "if they try to rebuild it whenever it comes back it will also be removed".
"So there are other places in east Belfast that are much safer to build a bonfire, they can go and build it elsewhere but not there," he said.
"That position has got widespread support."
Prominent loyalist Jamie Bryson said people are "very angry" at the removal operation.
"Again, and this goes across the board, that whatever about the rights and wrongs and any concerns there may be in relation to bonfires they can be addressed via dialogue and the PSNI invading unionist communities in the middle of the night at the behest of what is now a nationalist dominated council is never going to send a clear message," he said.
"But it just feeds into the perception that that the entire system is entirely weighted against the unionist and loyalist community and it just more evidence of that really."
Chief Superintendent Andy Freeburn said police were in attendance at the request of Belfast City Council "to ensure that the contractors were not obstructed, to ensure their safety and the safety of the public as a whole".
