A second effigy of First Minister Alex Salmond was set alight at a bonfire parade in Sussex, despite claims that the first one had been removed amid complaints.
Two large models of the politician were created for the Lewes Bonfire parade, but Sussex Police said last night they had been withdrawn following complaints on social media.
But pictures emerged on Twitter today of one of the effigies at the centre of the fireworks display.
One effigy depicted Mr Salmond holding a sign reading 45%, the number of Scottish people who voted for independence from the UK in September, while the Loch Ness Monster peers over his shoulder.
The second model portrayed a topless Mr Salmond wearing a kilt and sitting on a bucket of North Sea oil.
Read Julie McDowall's verdict on the reaction
Tweets from Michael Story posted at the end of the parade appeared to show the kilt-wearing effigy exploding in a puff of black smoke amid a fireworks display.
Mr Story wrote: "To be absolutely clear: tonight I saw an effigy of Alex Salmond lit by fireworks then blown up at Lewes."
Finn Scott-Delany, business editor of the Brighton Argus newspaper, who was at the event, confirmed the explosion.
He said: "At the end of the spectacular show the effigy, apparently filled with explosives, was detonated, creating an impact several hundred metres away."
He also quoted onlooker Jack Harris, 30, of Lewes, saying: "You could see the fireworks coming out of him. It would have been stuffed with gunpowder and blown up - that's what the big explosion at the end would have been."
A spokesman for the First Minister said today: "As well as the SNP being all over Scotland, Alex Salmond is now all over East Sussex."
Sussex Police is looking into a number of complaints. Superintendent Laurence Taylor said: "We acknowledge that concerns have been raised and are trying to establish whether or not any crime may have been committed."
A spokeswoman for the force added: "Officers spoke to the bonfire societies on the night to make them aware of the concerns being raised about the effigies of the Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond.
"It was left up to the societies to make a decision about what they did with the effigies."
A number of societies take part in the parade, each providing their own effigies, costumes, bonfire sites and procession route within the town.
Waterloo Bonfire Society created the caricature of Mr Salmond and Nessie and said it had "no wish or intention to offend".
Sussex Police said last night that complaints had been raised and tweeted: "For those enquiring we have been advised that there won't be any burning of the Alex Salmond effigies this evening in Lewes."
High-profile politicians and celebrities have been targets of the parade in the past.
Mr Salmond said yesterday: "I'm in pretty good company - Angela Merkel got the burning treatment from the East Sussex Conservative council.
"I think their judgment is askew but if they think I'm a threat to the Westminster establishment like Guy Fawkes, they are right.
"I am used to insults from Tories in East Sussex and if they think that is a good thing to do it is up to them."
He added that he was more concerned about Nessie being burned and said it that was "totally outrageous".
Bonfire Night in Lewes does not only commemorate the Gunpowder Plot, but also other events including the burning of 17 Protestant martyrs in the town's High Street from 1555 to 1557 under the reign of Mary Tudor.
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