Lewes Bonfire Night Sees Donald Trump Effigies Prepared For Burning

It was David Cameron and a pig last year.

It seems this year’s Lewes Bonfire Night celebrations will see an effigy of Donald Trump go up in flames, along with some prominent political figures.

The Lewes Bonfire Night unites the town’s seven bonfire societies for the November 5 event and typically sees tens of thousands of visitors make their way to the town to join in the festivities.

Their effigies are often of controversial or scandal-hit individuals and it seems at least two effigies of the Republication presidential candidate will go up in flames.

An effigy of Trump holding Hillary Clinton’s severed head is also due to be burned in Edenbridge, Kent.

In Lewes, there also seemed to be effigies prepared of Theresa May, along with what appeared to be the three Brexiteers, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage.

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Last year's effigy of David Cameron
Gareth Fuller/PA Archive

About 30,000 people took part in the celebration last year, with about half that number commuting by train, a Sussex Police spokeswoman said.

But numbers are expected to decrease significantly for the 2016 event with no trains stopping at Lewes or some neighbouring stations after midday thanks to rail strikes, the Press Association reported.

It comes as members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union undertake 48-hour strike action in an ongoing dispute about the role of conductors.

Southern blamed the need to ensure public safety, saying it would not be able to operate any rail or replacement bus services to the Lewes area from Saturday afternoon.

It condemned the latest stoppage as “spiteful and vindictive” and warned of disruption to services even though it planned to run more trains than during previous strikes.

More action is planned in the coming weeks, and the union has escalated the row by calling strikes over Christmas and the New Year.