Crowd chanting anti-immigrant slogans clashes with police hours after stabbing incident outside school
Rory Carroll and agency
Thu 23 Nov 2023 15.31 EST
Buses and trams have been torched and a shop looted during riots in Dublin city centre after a stabbing attack outside a school left three children injured.
Police and politicians called for calm amid warnings against misinformation as violence escalated from a demonstration that began on Thursday afternoon at the scene of the incident.
There were clashes with riot police as some demonstrators let off flares and fireworks, while others grabbed chairs and stools from outside bars and restaurants.
A police cordon was set up around the Irish parliament building, Leinster House, and officers from the Garda Mounted Support Unit were in nearby Grafton Street.
More than 400 Irish police officers were involved in the height of the response. In a video statement on social media, Ch Supt Patrick McMenamin said some members of the police force had been attacked and assaulted.
However, he said no serious injuries had been reported by gardaí or members of the public. Gardaí remained on patrol in the city centre, he said, adding: “Dublin city centre is now calm and returning to normal.”
The Irish justice minister, Helen McEntee, labelled the scenes “intolerable” and said a “thuggish and manipulative element must not be allowed to use an appalling tragedy to wreak havoc”.
The garda commissioner, Drew Harris, said a “complete lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology” was behind the disorder.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/23/dublin-knife-attack-children-stabbing-ireland-parnell-square
