On Thursday, the largest deployment of riot police in Ireland’s history was used to control street violence in Dublin. The violence began after a knife attack in the city, which left three children and a school care assistant injured. Sinn Féin, the largest opposition party, criticised the police response to the riot, with its leader Mary Lou McDonald calling for the commissioner of the force to resign. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar condemned the violence, saying it had “brought shame” on Ireland and promised new laws within weeks to bring those involved to justice.
The police arrested 34 people after vehicles were set alight and shops looted. At the time of reporting, a large police presence remained on Dublin’s streets. Following the riot, Ireland’s police chief Drew Harris blamed the violence on a “lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology”. Two of the five people injured in the stabbings are in critical condition.
The riot was triggered after “hateful assumptions” were made based on material circulating online in the wake of the stabbings. False claims that the attacker was a foreign national were among the rumours. Sources suggest the suspected attacker is an Irish citizen who has lived in the country for 20 years. Ireland’s hate crime legislation is “not up to date for the social media age”, said Varadkar, who vowed to use the “full resources of the law to punish those involved.”
Eyewitnesses confirmed that many of the rioters were young people in their late teens or early 20s. There were also reports of older people “egging them on”. Following the riot, 32 people have been charged in connection with the disorder. Those accused face charges including theft and weapons offences
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