{"id":137146,"date":"2025-10-22T00:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T00:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/137146\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T00:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T00:26:07","slug":"dublin-police-condemn-thuggery-after-protest-outside-hotel-housing-asylum-seekers-turns-violent-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/137146\/","title":{"rendered":"Dublin police condemn \u2018thuggery\u2019 after protest outside hotel housing asylum seekers turns violent | Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six people have been arrested after Irish police battled hundreds of protesters outside a Dublin<\/a> hotel used to house asylum seekers after an alleged sexual assault on a young girl.<\/p>\n

The crowd burned a police vehicle and hurled fireworks and other missiles at officers outside the Citywest hotel on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 reported<\/a> that the protesters \u2013 some of whom waved Irish flags and held anti-immigrant placards \u2013 numbered up to 2,000 people.<\/p>\n

The Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na, the Irish police force, said officers were subject to \u201csustained violence\u201d as protesters launched bricks, glass bottles and fireworks, resulting in the six arrests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was obviously not a peaceful protest,\u201d said police commissioner Justin Kelly. \u201cThe actions this evening can only be described as thuggery. This was a mob intent on violence against gardai.\u201d<\/p>\n

The disturbances flared a day after a man was charged in connection with an alleged sexual assault. Local media reported that he was a 26-year-old asylum seeker and that the alleged victim was a 10-year-old who was attacked at or near the Citywest facility, which is in the Saggart area of south-west Dublin.<\/p>\n

A small protest outside the facility passed peacefully on Monday but on Tuesday night a far larger crowd threw rocks and traffic cones. A police van was also torched.<\/p>\n

Police, some with riot shields, helmets and horses, pushed the crowd back.<\/p>\n

The justice and migration minister, Jim O\u2019Callaghan, condemned the disturbances. \u201cUnfortunately, the weaponising of a crime by people who wish to sow dissent in our society is not unexpected,\u201d O\u2019Callaghan said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is unacceptable and will result in a forceful response from the garda\u00ed. Those involved will be brought to justice. Attacks on garda\u00ed will not be tolerated. Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. Violence is not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The taoiseach, Miche\u00e1l Martin, condemned the \u201cviolent disorder\u201d and \u201cvile abuse\u201d against police in a statement.<\/p>\n

Demonstrations against immigrants and refugees have become common in recent years, with protesters accusing the arrivals of worsening a housing shortage and driving violent crime. Far-right agitators have used social media and rallies to spread a message that \u201cIreland is full\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rioting erupted in central Dublin in November 2023<\/a> after a man stabbed three children outside a primary school. In June crowds targeted foreigners in Ballymena<\/a>, in Northern Ireland<\/a>, after an alleged sexual assault. Protests outside asylum seeker hotels and centres also spread across England<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Tuesday, Ireland<\/a>\u2019s child and family agency Tusla said the alleged victim of this week\u2019s incident had been in state care at the time and that she had \u201cabsconded\u201d during a trip to the city centre.<\/p>\n

Speaking in parliament, Martin acknowledged \u201cthe concern, anger and worry of many people\u201d over the alleged assault. \u201cClearly, there has been failure here in terms of the state\u2019s obligation to protect this child.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six people have been arrested after Irish police battled hundreds of protesters outside a Dublin hotel used to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-137146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-main-news","19":"tag-mainnews","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}