The UK’s ‘bonfire capital’ has put more political figures to the flames as effigies of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg were paraded through the streets as part of Bonfire Night festivities.
A runaway Brexit rollercoaster sculpture featuring a frantic-looking Johnson and Rees-Mogg has been carrried through the streets of Lewes as the town celebrated November 5.
The East Sussex town is famous for burning effigies of controversial politicians and celebrities every year on Bonfire Night.
They are paraded along the narrow streets of Lewes before being burned in front of thousands of onlookers.
Among the centrepieces of the annual festival are the controversial effigies, which often take the form of well-known politicians and celebrities.
Last year, a giant portrayal of Johnson holding an axe and Theresa May’s severed head was set on fire, to the delight of the chanting crowds.
The town’s seven bonfire societies are known for producing controversial tableaux of public figures which are paraded by torchlight before being set on fire.
The event not only marks the tale of Guy Fawkes and the uncovering of the Gunpowder Plot on November 5 1605, but also commemorates the burning of 17 Protestant martyrs in the town’s High Street in the 16th century.
To mark their demise, 17 burning crosses are traditionally carried through the town, and a wreath-laying ceremony takes place at the war memorial.
A flaming tar barrel is also thrown into the nearby River Ouse, said to symbolise the throwing of magistrates into the water after they read the riot act to bonfire boys in 1847.