Sectarian signs, election posters and an effigy have appeared on several bonfires in parts of Northern Ireland.

Bonfires are lit on the Eleventh night, to kick off the Twelfth celebrations.

A sign apparently threatening SDLP leader Colum Eastwood was placed alongside a hanging effigy on a bonfire in the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey.

Party colleague Cara Hunter described the display as “absolutely despicable behaviour”.

“Unionist leadership needs to come out strong against this nonsense and call it for what it is,” the assembly member wrote on social media.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it was investigating material placed on the bonfire as a hate crime.

The board was removed following engagement between neighbourhood policing teams and the local community, police said.

In south Belfast, election posters depicting Sinn Féin’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill and SDLP’s MP Claire Hanna were placed on a bonfire alongside sectarian threats.

Republic of Ireland and Palestinian flags were also placed on the structure.

Signs criticising local newspaper titles have also appeared on several bonfires, one of which mentioned SDLP councillor Dónal Lyons, who said “there is a lot more to life than poking people in the eye”.

“This is depressing, not in that it’s about me but that there’s young ones being taught that this is how they can best celebrate their community and traditions,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Hundreds of bonfires are lit every year in unionist communities across Northern Ireland on the eve of the Twelfth of July, the main date in the annual parading season.

The date commemorates the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when the Protestant King William III – also known as King Billy and William of Orange – defeated Catholic King James II.

Bonfires were lit to welcome – and guide – William.

Historically, a much smaller number of bonfires were lit in mainly nationalist areas on 15 August to mark the Catholic feast of the Assumption, a tradition that was replaced in some places by bonfires to mark the anniversary of the introduction of internment – or detention without trial – on 9 August 1971.

The Craigyhill bonfire in Larne has been the largest in NI in recent years.

In 2022 it reportedly reached about 202ft (62m) in height.

• Read more: Why are bonfires lit over the Twelfth?