An image of a man carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher hanging from a loyalist bonfire in east Belfast has once again put the spotlight on paramilitary intimidation and public safety concerns that continue to surround the annual bonfire season.

Bonfires are being built ahead of the ‘Eleventh Night’, the eve of hundreds of anti-Catholic parades by the Orange Order.

The display appeared on a large flag attached to the London Road bonfire in east Belfast (pictured, below), a site already linked to controversy over anti-social behaviour, safety concerns and the loss of land that had once been earmarked for more than 100 social homes.

From paramilitary imagery and racist displays to asbestos contamination, hospital safety concerns and threats to homes, this year’s bonfire season is once again exposing the gap between the language of loyalist ‘culture’ and the reality of terror gatherings and toxic fumes.

In a report in the Irish News, one local resident described the conditions during last year’s blaze.

“The Fire Brigade spent the night hosing down houses and roofs on Florida Drive and London Road because the heat was absolutely mental. You could feel it even 2/3 streets away.

“Looking at the size of the bonfire being built this year, it’s potentially going to be even bigger. Surely there’s a line where culture stops and the potential burning down a residential street begins.”

The resident questioned why local people were expected to accept the risks.

“Why are the locals expected to just sit there, board up windows, or hose down their own houses on the 11th.

“Would going down a legal route as part of a group of residents be a worthwhile cause?

“I honestly feel as a person from a Protestant background that this stuff has to stop, but it’s not culture and most of all it is not safe. The Council, the PSNI, and Stormont need to step up and set a precedent for removing these dangerous bonfires before someone’s house is burnt down or someone is killed.”

They also pointed to what they saw as a clear double standard.

“If a structure posing this level of risk was built in a more affluent part of Belfast, residents would quite rightly have solicitors involved within days, the council would be under immense pressure to act, and the PSNI would be expected to enforce whatever decision was taken regardless of whether some wee hoods threatened to kick off.

“Yet when it’s a working class area, people are effectively told to keep their heads down, board up their windows, and put up with it year after year.”

The east Belfast display is only the latest in a series of controversies linked to loyalist bonfires.

In the Village area of south Belfast, residents remain locked in a long-running battle over the Meridi Street bonfire, built on land contaminated by asbestos and located beside an electricity substation serving both the Royal Victoria Hospital and Belfast City Hospital.

Rather than addressing those concerns, organisers produced badges showing a figure in a hazmat suit standing in front of the bonfire. The Alliance Party said the badges “make a mockery” of the serious issues surrounding the pyre.

“The health and safety of everyone nearby is hardly a laughing matter. People living around the site are scared,” one resident said.

“It might not be immediately clear, but what happens years down the line if people get seriously ill or worse from breathing in asbestos because of this breathtaking irresponsibility?

“It’s mad, and someone should have stepped in long ago and stopped this.”

Although attempts to halt this year’s bonfire before July have been dropped, the wider challenge will continue. Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson welcomed that outcome.

“This is a great victory for the Village bonfire, and indeed all bonfires will now proceed without interference in 2026,” he declared.

Across the North, similar concerns continue to emerge.

In Newtownards, a UVF display appeared beside a bonfire site carrying messages about keeping the area safe and tidy while prominently displaying the insignia of a loyalist organisation responsible for hundreds of killings.

SDLP representative Colin McGrath said: “Everyone has the right to celebrate their culture, but the presence of UVF insignia at this bonfire site raises concerns about any involvement they may have in this bonfire.

“It’s long past time paramilitary organisations left the stage and they have no role to play in our society, whether directing a bonfire or anything else.”

In the Cregagh estate in east Belfast, a bonfire went alight prematurely (pictured, top), causing a major alert for emergency services.

In Moygashel, concern has grown over tyres and other hazardous materials placed on a bonfire that has repeatedly generated controversy through racist and inflammatory displays.

SDLP councillor Karol McQuade said: “Burning tyres releases toxic fumes and pollutants into the air, and it is local people in Dungannon, Moygashel and the surrounding area who will be left to breathe it in.

“It is bad for public health, bad for the environment, and it should not be tolerated.

“No tradition or celebration gives anyone the right to put the health of the wider community at risk.

“Those responsible need to remove these tyres immediately, and the relevant authorities must take action before serious harm is done.”