Pride flag hate crime targeted Alliance Party councillor

Peter McCully was recently elected as a councillor for the Alliance Party

A suspicious item wrapped in a Pride flag was left at the home of a politician in Northern Ireland, with police treating it as a hate crime.

The Alliance Party said Peter McCully, who sits on Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, was targeted in the incident in Portrush, County Antrim.

It was one of two hoax devices left outside homes in Hopefield Avenue.

In both cases the devices were wrapped in Pride flags. Controlled explosions were carried out on them by the Army.

The Alliance Party said the second alert was at the home of one of its former councillors.

The security operation in the area was declared over at 16:30 BST on Friday.

Hopefield Crescent, Hopefield Grove and Hopefield Avenue have been reopened and people have been able to return to their homes.

'Toxic culture on LGBT issues'

Mr McCully, who lives in his family home, told BBC News NI's Talkback that it was shocking and disruptive for him and his mother, who was in the house at the time.

"Portrush is a welcoming and inclusive place and to have this incident on our doorstep is tarnishing the reputation of the town," he said.

Another security operation began in Portrush on Friday

He and other residents who had to leave their homes were able to return at about 01:00 BST on Friday.

He said there had been a "toxic culture" emerging around LGBT issues in recent weeks and months.

"I feel this is almost an escalation of that - we have seen a number of incidents recently," he said.

"It's clear that we are facing a rising tide in prejudice of LGBT people."

Police said the devices were now being forensically examined and have appealed for anyone with information or footage from the affected area to contact them.

'Completely unacceptable'

Det Ch Insp Hamilton said: "The placement of these devices has caused untold disruption to the lives of local people, many of whom have had to leave their homes while we made sure the area was safe for them.

"Those responsible care nothing for the impact they have on communities, nor do they care about the fear and uncertainty their actions cause.

"Such attempts to intimidate and threaten are completely unacceptable."

The Alliance Party said: "Nobody should face this kind of threat when simply doing their job."

Police have cordoned off Hopefield Avenue for much of Friday

It said the use of a Pride flag "adds an extra sinister edge" and "has echoes of both the dark days of our troubled past and more recent times".

Alliance condemned those behind what it described as the "appalling attacks".

Representatives of Northern Ireland's other main political parties joined in the condemnation.

A charity supporting LGBT people in Northern Ireland said it was concerned by the incident.

The Rainbow Project said support was available to anyone who was affected by the alert.

"Our thoughts are with all those caught up in this incident and we understand the alarm this incident will cause to LGBTQIA+ communities," it said.

Detectives are urging anyone who finds anything "unusual or out of the ordinary" not to touch it but to contact the police immediately.