Irish premier says Dublin rioters bring ‘shame on Ireland’
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said rioters who burned cars and looted shops in central Dublin in response to a knife attack outside a school had “brought shame on Ireland.”
As work was underway to clean up the streets and remove the remains of charred vehicles and broken windows, the Taoiseach said damage from Thursday’s unrest will cost tens of millions of euros.
“We need to take back Ireland from the criminals who seek any excuse to unleash horror on our streets,” Varadkar told a news conference on Friday.
The riots broke out after the attack in which three children were injured. One, a 5-year-old girl, remains in critical condition. A child care worker in her 30s, who is understood to have tried to intervene, was also hurt. The stabbing suspect, a man in his 40s, is in the hospital with serious injuries. Police said they were keeping an “open mind” about the motive.
There were reports that some protesters were chanting antiimmigrant slogans. Public broadcaster RTE showed a bus set alight and graffitied with the word “Out.”
The head of the
Irish police, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, said Dublin had not seen violence on this scale in decades.
He blamed it on a “lunatic, hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology,” adding that it’s clear that people have been “radicalized through social media over the internet.”
Hundreds of people were involved, and more than 30 were arrested, according to the police. Thirteen shops were significantly damaged or looted, 11 police cars were attacked, along with three buses and a light-rail tram.
Large numbers of officers remained on the streets of the capital on Friday as Varadkar warned that further protests were being organized online.
The Taoiseach pledged to modernize Ireland’s hate laws and said that current legislation is not fit for the social media age.
“These criminals did not do what they did because they love Ireland,” Varadkar said. “They did it because they’re filled with hate.”