Photo by 钰祺 李 on Unsplash 

Violence takes to the streets after a knife attack occurred which led to a woman and multiple children being injured. Anti-immigration looting and rioting has taken over Dublin, with over “400 Irish police officers … involved in the height of the response.”

The Incident

The tragic event took place outside a primary school; Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire. The attack occurred on Thursday 23rd November around 1.30pm as pupils were emerging from their classrooms. Those involved sustained severe injuries. The five-year-old girl had to have emergency treatment, and the five-year-old boy and six-year-old girl were treated in hospital but for injuries that were less severe. The latest update has confirmed that the young boy has been discharged from hospital. 

Members of the general public intervened at the site and held the suspect on site until the police arrived. 

Official Responses: The Attack

Superintendent Liam Geraghty was initially “satisfied there is no terror related activity”, but later on commented in a press conference that “I have never ruled out any possible motive for this attack … all lines of inquiry are open to determine the motive.” It is clear that the motive behind the attack is unclear and the police are working on clarifying the situation. 

A fifty-year-old man has been detained and the police have confirmed that they are no longer looking for other suspects. 

The Reason Behind The Violence

A far-right wing mob created a violent situation in response to a group of anti-immigrant protestors who also arrived at the scene of the incident. They had clashed with the police who had earlier warned them about the dangers of misinformation in regards to the ethnicity of the attacker. With the far-right mob shouting “get them out” in regards to immigrants, the mob led to a situation whereby 13 shops were looted, and three buses, 11 police cars and a tram were damaged. 

With mass amounts of vehicles set alight, the situation created a scene in which police were using riot gear to clear the large crowds. Police have commented that the violence was due to “lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology.” The riots had at least 500 people on the streets, with 34 people arrested. Although police say that the situation has calmed down, they are still keeping an eye on Dublin City Centre. 

This situation was due to recent tensions in the far-right community about Ireland becoming a home for “immigrants”. With one spectator who was not involved in the rioting commenting that “It’s sad it’s come to this, but the situation has got out of control.” This was not in regards to the tragic stabbing but to immigration. The far-right perception of increased crime rate and worsening housing crisis as the fault of immigrants has caused a volatile, unsafe atmosphere.

Official Responses: The Violence

The situation called for the most riot police deployed in Irish history. The Garda Commissioner defends the police’s response to the riots, saying that the situation was “out of control”, and states that he’s “not going to resign.” In the upcoming weeks post-riots, the police will have access to 200 Tasers and two water cannons, and will have increased training surrounding the maintenance of public order. 

Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, commented that he would take steps to “tighten anti-hate legislation.” With two key policies being implemented in the upcoming weeks, the change and tightening of government legislation will hope to create a safer environment. The two policies include the police having the ability to use facial recognition technology to further the investigation into who was at the riots. The other policy surrounds giving online prosecution powers to the police. With Varadkar fighting against this spike in anti-immigrant rhetoric and training the police, there is hope that the detrimental riots do not re-emerge.