A group overseeing more than a dozen Eleventh night bonfires has claimed that Belfast City Council is ‘igniting tensions’ within the Loyalist community.
It comes as the council hired contractors to remove tyres from a bonfire site at London Road in East Belfast early on Sunday morning. Police were also in attendance.
The council said that they were trying to remove tyres, and not dismantle the bonfire.
PUP Councillor John Kyle said that he believed the response from the council was fair.
He told Belfast Live: "Everyone is agreed that burning tyres is a bad idea. It's damaging to the environment and to the health of local residents.
"The council was in discussions for some weeks with the bonfire builders emphasising the need to remove tyres. On Sunday morning, the council intervened to remove several hundred tyres from a bonfire in East Belfast.
"I think it was a reasonable approach in the circumstances. It was clear that the bonfire builders were not going to remove the tyres from the structure of the bonfire and so the council needed to intervene. They had a duty to intervene, I would say.
"This action is not about removing bonfires, it is about removing dangerous tyres. We need to be clear that the council is not undermining the bonfire tradition, but it is intervening to protect the welfare of residents and the environment."
But the East Belfast Cultural Collective, an umbrella group including loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson, that speaks for 13 bonfires in East Belfast, North Down and Newtownards , said that the move was part of an “agenda to drive loyalists into a confrontation with the PSNI ”.
They said: "Bonfire builders on the cultural expression site had arrived at a voluntary agreement with statutory agencies to have the tyres removed by consent, however Belfast City Council broke this agreement and instead sent in masked mercenaries on a Sunday morning in a move designed to ignite tensions within the loyalist community.
"It is our view these actions are part of an agenda to drive loyalists into a confrontation with the PSNI, who are being used as a tool by Belfast City Council to whip up tensions and agitate against the unionist community.
"We want to continue to work towards delivering a positive, peaceful and proud cultural celebration across all cultural expression sites.
"We do not encourage tyres on bonfires, however there are ways in which to address such issues, and sending in masked mercenaries certainly isn’t appropriate”
A Belfast City Council spokesman said: "A member-led decision making process has been agreed to consider issues and make decisions on a site by site basis."
A PSNI spokeswoman said that officers were in attendance to "ensure that there was no breach of the peace".
She added: “With landowner consent, Belfast City Council engaged a contractor to remove tyres from a bonfire site at Lismore Street in east Belfast on Sunday morning.”
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