Former mayor left bloodied in ‘anti-Irish’ attack after Chelsea game
Two arrested following the ‘overtly racist’ incident in London hotel bar
TWO men have been arrested following an alleged ‘anti-Irish’ attack on a former Dublin Lord Mayor and his son after a football match in England.
Independent Councillor Nial Ring, 64, and his son Emmet sustained facial and head injuries on Tuesday evening after a group of men launched a ‘vicious, racist-motivated attack’ on them at a London hotel.
The pair had just returned to their accommodation after attending the Chelsea/ Borussia Dortmund game at Stamford Bridge stadium, and had decided to sit down in the bar.
As Emmet ordered a drink at the bar, several men began to insult him, using anti-Irish slurs and remarks such as ‘F*ck off back to your own country’.
Nial intervened and advised his to son to leave with him. However, a man in his mid-40s began to verbally abuse the pair from another part of the pub. He then walked up to Emmet and punched him ‘full smack’ in the face.
‘Emmet went backwards and when I turned around some fella hit me on the head with a bottle,’ Nial told RTÉ’s Liveline.
‘I just knew something hit me because it was like Niagara Falls with blood pouring down my jumper and shirt. There was blood all over the place and next thing the other fella started throwing digs again.
‘I had to get up because your survival instinct takes over… Suddenly, there were four of them and we had to fight our way out.
‘I still have a few bruises on my knuckles which unfortunately I didn’t think at my age I’d ever have again.
‘They were raining down punches and we were trying to fight our way out. There were about 20 to 30 people just looking on, and that just struck me. Nobody came to our aid. It was extraordinary.
‘It was overtly racist. I’ve gone to Chelsea matches for years and there is a huge anti-Irish, anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant [group]. There is a group there who are absolutely appalling, but it’s just what it is.’
Following the incident, police came to the scene and arrested two of the men involved.
The father and son were taken to the local hospital where their cuts and bruises were treated.
‘I was only a bit blue at the back of my head as the bottle hadn’t smashed, and I had facial injuries, along with Emmet,’ said Nial.
‘One of the police officers then came over saying they had looked at the CCTV footage and agreed it was a totally unprovoked attack on us,’ he said.
‘Not only did they hit me with a bottle, but one of them tried to strike me in the head with a chair, but for whatever reason I happened to move aside just in time,’ he added.
‘The police said they arrested two and were charging them [with assault].’
The Dublin city councillor, who was Lord Mayor from 2018 to 2019, said he fears that the growing number of racist attacks in the UK may soon become a problem in Ireland too.
‘The police said they’ve seen more anti-immigrant rhetoric in the UK, with these National Front guys riled up again.
‘We have to make sure that doesn’t happen here. I’d hate to think of anyone in our country sitting in a pub and attacked just because they have a different accent,’ he said.
‘That’s exactly what happened to us. It was so clear that these guys didn’t like Irish people – or anyone else for that matter.
‘I thought the days of “no Irish, no blacks, no dogs” were well gone in England. In the UK in the 1980s during the IRA campaign, there were fellas coming up to me in pubs telling me to eff off. That’s 40 years ago, but it’s coming back, which is scary.
‘It dawns on me that it wasn’t just a few digs. It was a vicious, racist-motivated attack.’
Mr Ring, a former member of Fianna Fáil and a former IDA board member, has served on Dublin city council since 2009.
‘They didn’t like Irish people’