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12 Jul 2021

Calls for calm heeded as loyalist bonfires are lit in Northern Ireland

Foreign Affairs Correspondent

They were the fires said to have lit the way for the Protestant King William of Orange in his battle against the Catholics more than three centuries ago. Today they commemorate his victory, with Protestant communities across Northern Ireland racing to build the biggest and the best bonfires each year, with some stoking tension with neighbouring Catholic communities. But so far calls for calm have been heeded.