The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell has described an effigy of migrants in a boat on top of Moygashel bonfire as ‘racist, threatening and offensive.’

Political parties have condemned the effigy which recently appeared on the bonfire that is due to be lit on Thursday night.

In a statement the Archbiship quoted from Leviticus 19:34: “’The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt’.”

He continued: “These are the words from the Law of God to his people. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we compare them with the effigy of a boat of migrants which sits, to our humiliation and lasting shame, on top of a bonfire in Moygashel, it exposes that effigy for what it is – racist, threatening and offensive.

placeholder image — Archbishop John McDowell | Supplied

Effigy of refugees in a boat on top of bonfire in Moygashel described as 'sicke...

"It certainly has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity or with Protestant culture and is in fact inhuman and deeply sub-Christian.

“I hope that the many people from other countries, who live in that area, and who contribute so much to the economy and to the diversity of Dungannon, can be reassured that it does not in any way represent the feeling of the vast majority of their neighbours.”

Meanwhile, Moygashel Bonfire Committee said in a Facebook post that they are expressing “our disgust at the ongoing crisis that is illegal immigration.”

They added: “This year's bonfire ‘topper’ should not be seen as racist, threatening or offensive.”