On Thursday evening (November 23), violence broke out in central Dublin following a knife attack at a local school, which left a five-year-old girl and a woman seriously injured and two other young children hospitalised.

Soon after the news of the attack broke, hundreds of people took to the streets in protest. Buses and trams in the city centre were torched, while other protestors set off flares and fireworks and brandished metal bars. Police said a “hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology” was responsible for the outbreak of violence in the city.

Here, we break down how the violence started and what is happening in Dublin right now.

HOW DID THE VIOLENCE START?

Violence flared in Dublin after news broke that three children and a school assistant had been injured in a stabbing in the city centre on Thursday afternoon. It happened on Parnell Square East in the city centre outside the Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire school. Two of the victims, a five-year-old girl and a woman in her 30s, are still in critical condition.

Police superintendent Liam Geraghty said at a media briefing that police believe the attack was “a standalone incident, not necessarily connected to any wider issues that are ongoing in the country or in the city” and added that they are yet to “identify the exact reasons” why the attack was carried out.

Police say they are following a definite line of inquiry and that a man in his 50s, who also sustained serious injuries, is a person of interest. Speaking to the BBC, sources have suggested that the man in question is an Irish citizen who has lived in the country for 20 years.

On Friday morning, Ireland’s police chief Drew Harris said that an “element of radicalisation” had contributed to the escalation of tensions in the city. He explained that the “extraordinary outbreak of violence” not seen in the country in decades from “far-right” mobs was triggered by “hateful assumptions” made based on social media posts in the wake of the knife attack which made false claims that the attacker was a foreign national.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Soon after news of the stabbing broke, far-right agitators took to the streets, with police estimating that around 500 people in total were involved. Many of the anti-immigrant protestors wore face coverings.

Some grabbed chairs and stools from outside bars and restaurants, while others were armed with metal bars. Three buses, a tram, and cars in the city centre were set alight, and a number of police vehicles were also damaged. The Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) said a fire truck that attended the stabbing scene was also vandalised. 13 shops were badly damaged and many more were looted. 

Some rioters also carried signs reading ‘Irish Lives Matter’ and waved Irish flags through a neighbourhood home to a large immigrant community. It has also been alleged that a hotel housing asylum seekers was also set on fire.

Police said more than 400 officers were deployed in the city centre to combat the unrest, while a police cordon was also set up around the Irish parliament building, Leinster House. Protestors also clashed with riot police, setting off flares and fireworks and assaulting some members of the police force.

Calm was only restored in the city shortly after midnight.

WHAT HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN?

Irish police have arrested 34 people following the rioting. 

The Irish justice minister, Helen McEntee, called the violence “intolerable” and said a “thuggish and manipulative element must not be allowed to use an appalling tragedy to wreak havoc”. Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar said the rioters had “brought shame” on Ireland and promised to enact new laws to bring those involved to justice. 

Superintendent Liam Geraghty has appealed to anyone with information about the incident, including mobile phone footage of the attack and its aftermath, to get in touch with the police and praised bystanders who intervened and attempted to quell the violence.

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