A CATHOLIC BISHOP and former SDLP leader have called for nationalist bonfire builders in Derry to stay away from burning flags or placing offensive symbols on pyres that are due to be lit this evening.

The organisers of nationalist bonfires in Derry also faced calls to remove the names of individuals that were written on materials set to be burnt, including the name of former PSNI officer John Caldwell who suffered an attempted murder.

Bonfires have been built in several nationalist areas of Northern Ireland this month and are due to be set alight tonight.

Bonfires are not as significant an occurrence in nationalist areas as they are in unionist areas for the 12th of July, but are sometimes built in August for the Feast of the Assumption and to mark the anniversary of the introduction of internments without trial in August of 1971.

A pyre built in Creggan included a placard with several names, including John Caldwell, a police officer who was shot in 2023 while off duty and suffered serious injuries, and Kyle Bonnes, who was a 15-year-old teenage boy who died in a drowning incident in 2010.

SDLP MLA Mark Durkan, the nationalist party’s former leader, has urged bonfire builders in the Bogside and Creggan areas to remove offensive items from the pyres before they are set alight this evening.

“The appearance of a large number of flags on the Bogside and Creggan bonfires ahead of them being lit on Friday evening is really disappointing. We have to call this out for what it is, it’s wrong when flags and emblems are burnt on bonfires in July and it’s wrong in August too,” Durkan said.

In a statement, he said that he visited the Bogside bonfire site a couple of weeks ago and engaged with some of the young people involved in its construction.

“It was clear that they took enormous pride in their involvement and I wish we could harness the effort and application that they have put into this into something more positive,” Durkan said.

“I attempted to explain to them the futility of burning flags and emblems and the hurt that can cause,” he said.

“I again appeal for all of these flags and symbols to be removed from both bonfires. Far from being a celebration of culture, these bonfires are turning into nothing more than an opportunity to poke the other community in the eye.

“That gets us absolutely nowhere and leaves us trapped in a cycle that is holding this place and our young people back.”

Catholic Bishop of Derry Dónal McKeown has made a similar appeal to move away from using bonfires as tools of hatred.

In an interview on BBC Radio, he said that the bonfires are being used to “exploit fear and anger”.

He said he recognises that many young people experience “a lot of pain and distress” in their lives and that the “question is how do we deal with that”, but added that a bonfire that would “encourage anger” is not the answer.

The bishop said that “nothing beautiful grows in an angry head” and that “those who are helping young people to be angry are not doing them any favours”.