dublin, ireland
Reuters
—
Anti-immigration protesters in Dublin set a police car on fire and attacked police officers near a building housing asylum seekers on Tuesday, the justice minister said, a day after a man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a girl nearby.
The incident comes two years after anti-immigration demonstrators unleashed a major riot in central Dublin in which three young children were stabbed to death.
The Irish Times, which published footage of a police van on fire, reported that more than 500 people took part in a protest outside the building in west Dublin on Tuesday night.
Videos posted to X by Irish media and anti-immigration activists showed people holding Irish flags and placards with anti-immigration slogans. Demonstrators threw glass bottles and fireworks at police.
“It is not unexpected that crime would be used as a weapon by those seeking to sow dissent in our society,” Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said in a statement. “This is unacceptable and will result in a mandatory response.”
Police announced Tuesday that a man in his 20s was charged with serious assault of a female juvenile in the area.
The leader of Sinn Féin, the main opposition party in parliament, on Tuesday referred to reports that the man had been ordered deported in March this year.
Mr O’Callaghan said he had asked the department’s most senior officials for detailed explanations about the management of asylum claims in the case. Police did not respond to requests for comment.
Ireland is almost unique in Europe in that it has no far-right parliamentarians, but anti-immigration groups have gained a sharp rise in prominence in recent years, holding regular rallies calling for curbs on immigration.
