NAZI flags flown alongside loyalist flags on a Co. Antrim housing estate have been taken down by "outraged" members of the community, a councillor has said.
They were put up on lampposts near a loyalist bonfire site at the Glenfield estate, Carrickfergus, alongside loyalist paramilitary flags, the union flag and a Confederate flag.
Progressive Unionist Party representative Gareth Cole condemned the Nazi flags and praised local residents for helping to take them down "very swiftly". Mr Cole told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster that the flags didn’t represent anyone in the area.
"When I met the community they were all outraged, every single one and they were out on the street, disgusted at this," the councillor said.
Mr Cole said the loyalist bonfire was not publicly funded and added that he did not know who was responsible for erecting the Nazi and Confederate flags.
Alliance Party MLA Stewart Dickson said: "Clearly it's an incredibly sinister move to see any flag that has a swastika on it.
"For anyone to put swastika flags around a bonfire as part of their so-called celebration has taken a most sinister turn, and is flying in the face of everything that I ever understood the Orange Order to stand for."
A spokesperson for the PSNI said that they were aware of reports of several flags in the Carrickfergus area and were making enquiries.
The Confederate flag has been at the centre of controversy in the US because of its association with slavery and white supremacy.
See More: Carrickfergus, Featured, Loyalists, Nazi Flags
