Seventeen people charged after second night of disorder near asylum seeker hotel

Seventeen people have been charged after second night of disorder broke out near a hotel in West Dublin housing asylum seekers.

A third night of demonstrations were held at Citywest Hotel in Saggart after an alleged sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl in the vicinity of the hotel in the early hours of Monday morning.

A 26-year-old man, who cannot be named because of legal restrictions that apply to all sexual assault cases in Ireland, appeared in court on Tuesday charged over the alleged incident.

A total of 24 people were arrested on Wednesday following an hours-long standoff with Irish police, who were directly struck with fireworks, stones and other debris.

Gardai said five male juveniles arrested during the disorder have been released and will be dealt with under the Youth Diversion Programme.

Two other men arrested were released without charge pending a file being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Three members of the Irish police service, An Garda Siochana, were injured in the disorder, two of whom were taken to hospital.

Gardai also seized 15 scooters and e-bikes, and a policing and security operation remains in place at Citywest.

Between 7pm and 8pm on Wednesday, protesters again faced off with around 40 uniformed gardai, who were then replaced with the Public Order Unit.

Protesters carried Irish flags, chanted anti-immigration slogans and threw missiles.

Public order gardai pushed the crowd further from the hotel by advancing with shields.

A mounted garda unit and a dog unit were at the scene and a police helicopter provided air support.

Several gardai deployed pepper spray during the unrest.

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly, who visited the scene in the aftermath of the violence, told reporters on Wednesday he is “determined” that further people will be “brought before the courts to face justice”.

Irish premier Micheal Martin condemned the scenes of violence and said there could be “no justification” for attacks on gardai.

ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW

Seventeen people charged after second night of disorder near asylum seeker hotel

Tags: