Pride flag 'hate crime' targeted Alliance Party councillor

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.

A second item has since been discovered in the Hopefield Avenue area.

A number of properties have been evacuated and the police have asked people to avoid the area.

The item which was wrapped in a Pride flag has since been examined and the police have declared it a hoax.

The Alliance Party said an alert was also sparked at the home of one of its former councillors in the area.

Mr McCully, who lives in his family home, told BBC News NI's Talkback that it was a shocking and very disruptive event 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.

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

He told the programme that in recent weeks and months there had been a "toxic culture" emerging around LGBT issues.

"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."

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.

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.