Riots in Dublin bring ‘shame’ to Ireland, says Prime Minister

A violent clash between rioters and police in central Dublin on Thursday left several police officers injured, one seriously, and 34 people arrested. according to the Garda Síochánathe Irish police.

Rioters set fire to police vehicles, vandalized public buses and looted or damaged more than a dozen shops, the Garda said. A crowd had gathered in the city center afterwards a knife attack which seriously injured a female teacher and three young children.

The escalating unrest shocked authorities, who blamed a far-right faction for stoking tensions by spreading misinformation about the knife attack.

Unconfirmed speculation about the nationality of the knife-wielding attacker spread online in the hours after the stabbings, with one protester telling the Agence France-Presse news service that “Irish people are being attacked by these scum.”

“We have not seen a situation like this before,” Drew Harris, the Garda police commissioner, told reporters on Friday, adding that there was “an element of radicalization” in the unrest. A group of people had taken “a thimbleful of facts” and added “a bath of assumptions – hateful assumptions,” he said.

Videos of the scene Friday morning there was a heavy police presence and city workers clearing burned debris from roads and towing damaged cars.

On Friday, Irish officials condemned the rioters, calling the disorder “disgraceful.” Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the Garda would fight back against ‘waves of ignorance and crime’.

“Those involved have disgraced Dublin, disgraced Ireland and disgraced their families and themselves,” Mr Varadkar said. “This is not who we are. This is not who we want to be, and this is not who we will ever be.”

Thursday’s clash occurred after the woman in her 30s and three young children were injured in a knife attack shortly after 1.30pm on Thursday.

Within hours, a “riotous mob” had gathered at the crime scene and attempted to break into the cordoned off area, Commissioner Harris said. The disorder escalated after 5 p.m., he said, and police deployed more resources.

A man in his 50s, also injured in the attack, was taken into custody. the police said Thursday, adding that the motive for the incident was unclear and that they were keeping “an open mind” at this stage of the investigation.

Commissioner Harris said the force would review its tactics in public order enforcement. But he pushed back on claims that officers had failed to control the unrest, adding that they could not have foreseen its intensity.