An effigy of a boat containing mannequins of migrants was set alight in the village of Moygashel on Thursday, in an incident condemned by political and religious leaders as racist and threatening.

Authorities in Northern Ireland are investigating a bonfire that featured effigies of migrants in a boat and a banner reading “stop the boats’’ to determine whether it was a hate incident.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland are investigating a hate incident following the controversial bonfire on the outskirts of Dungannon. Placed on the bonfire was an Irish tricolour flag, and it is believed that 300 others are set to be burned ahead of the Orange Order’s annual 12 July parades.