DUBLIN, IRELAND—The Republic of Ireland experienced what was potentially its worst night of public disorder in recent memory Thursday as rioters clashed with police in response to a stabbing spree at an inner city Dublin elementary school perpetrated by a suspected migrant.
Multiple police squad cars, a double-decker bus, and parts of the Dublin tram system were set ablaze with additional reports of arson attacks surfacing. An asylum centre in the suburbs went up in smoke as communities mobilised following the alleged migrant attack.
Irish Police (Gardaí) were first called to ‘Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire’ just off Parnell Square, adjacent to the city’s primary thoroughfare O’Connell Street, a little after 2 p.m. after reports that a knife-wielding man was attacking schoolchildren as they were leaving the school.
A total of three children, their teacher, and the as-of-yet publicly unidentified attacker were subsequently rushed to hospital after the frenzied assault was only stopped by a fast food delivery driver confronted the assailant.
At least one of the children, a five-year-old girl, is understood to be fighting for her life after the attack, which fortunately occurred just a short walk from one of Dublin’s children’s hospitals.
The area where the attack occurred is ethnically diverse, but predominantly working-class, and host to a major asylum centre as well as a string of hotels turned into refugee accommodations. Certain media sources have described the attacker as an Algerian national.
Shortly after 5 p.m., crowds of young men from nearby housing estates began to gather on the street where the knife attack occurred and quickly engaged in verbal and physical altercations with awaiting police.
Authorities were shortly overwhelmed by the mob with chants of “Ireland for the Irish” and “Get ‘em out” heard as mobs of young men began to rush police and attack squad cars. The badly outnumbered police retreated northwards with abandoned vehicles left to be burnt by the gangs.
It took the best part of an hour for police to properly stabilise their lines between O’Connell Street and Parnell Square while gangs of young men were flinging stones and fireworks in their direction.
Once enough numbers arrived, police commenced a baton charge but were again overwhelmed. Approximately a dozen officers were left stranded down side streets and another police vehicle set alight.
The action then moved down O’Connell Street, close to the General Post Office (GPO), a national landmark where the Irish Republic was proclaimed in 1916, as another police squad car and a double-decker bus were torched and a riot squad with shields attempted multiple failed baton charges.
Arson attacks continued on public transport with Dublin authorities shutting down most forms of public transport through the city. Both the Irish Minister for Justice and the head of Irish police held emergency press conferences blaming the conflagration on a “hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology.”
As pubs and shops closed up early, Dublin’s Trinity College opened up emergency accommodation for stranded students to stay the night as rioting percolated to the south side of the city with both canine and mounted police units deployed.
Various clothing shops on O’Connell Street were looted. The Irish Army took to social media to deny reports that they were mobilising to quell the disturbances, saying their vehicles were merely on routine patrols in Dublin.
As the situation across the city began to settle, mainstream media conversations focused on the threat of the ‘far right’ and political pressure increased on the country’s Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, who is being criticised for underfunding police.
There is no certainty how Thursday’s riots will play out politically or whether they will continue or even escalate, should one or more of the injured children succumb to their wounds.
The Republic has already been rocked in recent weeks and months by a string of migrant-related crimes, most notably the murder of school teacher Ashling Murphy by a Slovakian national and a sadistic two-person killing spree by a jihadi in the West of Ireland.
Two MPs (TDs) have announced the forming of a populist bloc in the Irish Parliament to channel some nativist anger. Despite this, it would appear that, lacking any viable safety valve, violence could increase as changing demographics in Ireland collide.
