Peter McCully was recently elected as a councillor for the Alliance Party
By Mike McBride
BBC News NI
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.
People in the area had to leave their homes for several hours during the investigation on Thursday evening.
The item has since been examined and the police have said it was a hoax.
The Alliance Party said an alert was also sparked at the home of one of its former councillors in the area.
Image source, Getty Images
A suspicious item was discovered wrapped in a pride flag, police say
Hopefield Crescent, Hopefield Grove and Hopefield Avenue were closed during the alert but they have since been reopened.
The Alliance Party said: “Nobody should face this kind of threat when simply doing their job.”
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”.
“We utterly condemn those behind these appalling attacks and call on all other parties to do likewise,” said the party.
Hopefield Avenue was one of the streets that was closed for several hours
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.
