The Irish authorities reinforced their security measures on Friday, the day after riots provoked by the far right, bringing “shame to Ireland” according to the Prime Minister.
Many law enforcement officers were present in the city center in the evening, according to an AFP journalist.
For several hours Thursday evening, nearly 500 rioters burned vehicles, looted and vandalized businesses and clashed with police, in a neighborhood in central Dublin where many immigrants live.
This violence broke out after a man armed with a knife attacked several people early in the afternoon near a school in Dublin, leaving four injured, a teacher and three children.
A five-year-old girl was “in critical condition” Friday. The teacher is in “serious condition”, according to the police.
Also injured, the attacker was subdued and arrested on the spot, thanks in particular to the intervention of a Brazilian delivery man and a 17-year-old Frenchman. It would be, according to the daily Irish Timesof a man having been naturalized and living in Ireland for 20 years.
The police blamed these clashes on the far right, citing rumors spread on social networks about the attacker’s origins, in a context of increasing anti-immigration discourse.
“The center of Dublin is open normally” wanted to reassure the Irish police on X, with a “reinforced law enforcement plan”.
The head of the Irish police Drew Harris, who deplored “an extraordinary explosion of violence” Thursday evening and scenes not seen “for decades”, however indicated that he feared further violence, and two water cannons were sent from Ireland from the North in the afternoon.
Millions of euros in damage
Irish police announced they had arrested 34 people. A curfew was imposed on some, according to Irish media.
Concerning the attacker, the police simply said that he was around fifty years old, and ruled out at this stage a terrorist motive, without specifying his motivations.
The rioters “claim to defend Irish nationals”, but “they shame Dublin, shame Ireland”, lambasted the Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, adding later that the damage caused to public infrastructure would cost “tens of millions of euros “.
The leader of the main opposition party Sinn Fein, Mary Lou McDonald, on Friday called for the resignation of the Irish police chief, Drew Harris, and of Justice Minister Helen McEntee who refused during a conference press where she provided support to the police.
On O’Connell Street, the center of the violence, life has returned to normal despite the damage still visible, including businesses with broken windows. The carcasses of the burned vehicles were removed, AFP noted.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes… It was more than vandalism and a lot of anger,” testified Robbie Hammond, a 28-year-old sports coach.
“Sowing chaos”
In the hours following the attack on Thursday, several messages relayed on X by anti-immigration accounts circulated the rumor that the attacker was an “illegal immigrant”.
An anti Irish site establishment“Gript”, had indicated Thursday before the riots that the attacker would be “an Algerian national”.
The statement was echoed on
Fueled by a housing crisis, an anti-immigration discourse has developed in recent years in Ireland. In recent months, several demonstrations have taken place against accommodation projects for asylum seekers.
“The majority of Irish people welcome immigrants […] but over the past two or three years, a far-right movement has emerged that uses social media to spread disinformation and fear about them,” Anne Holohan, associate professor at Trinity College Dublin, told AFP.
The anti-racism association INAR castigated “manipulators and opportunists” who “take advantage of this difficult period” to “sow chaos”.
According to official figures, asylum applications have increased more than fivefold in 2022 compared to 2021 in Ireland.
With Clara Lalanne in London