BURNT OUT

Cars set on fire as Lidl looted

AT LEAST six cars were set on fire during a night of carnage in southwest Dublin this weekend.

The shocking aftermath of the mindless vandalism was caught on camera and went viral yesterday.

Cars stranded in large snow drifts were set alight in the arson attacks, while there were also reports of cars parked outside people’s homes being destroyed on Friday night.

The charred shells of the cars remained at the scene yesterday as the clean-up operation got under way. It is

thought they were set alight by gangs taking advantage of large snow drifts which inhibited the ability of emergency services to attend quickly.

Gardaí struggled to get to the scene of the chaos due to impassable roads.

They were forced to request the assistance of the Army to get them to the various incidents that were happening in the Tallaght area at the time.

It is understood some of those involved had hastily built snow barricades to further hamper the efforts of responding gardaí.

The chaos began just after 5pm on Friday when a large number of people gained access to the Lidl outlet on Fortunestown Lane.

A mechanical digger was then used to smash open the roof of the shop and a safe was taken from the shop. The digger was then used to try to break open the safe in the snow. Gardaí who were first called to the area drew their batons and pepper spray but did not use them. They withdrew before around 50 gardaí then arrived in Army vehicles capable of getting through the snow drifts.

Two other shops were targeted, including a Centra store in Jobstown and a Topaz service station in Citywest.

During the carnage six cars were burnt out on Fortunestown Way and there were reports of other vehicles being burnt out nearby.

A source said: ‘The scenes were disgraceful. Twenty-four hours of snow led to complete anarchy.’

Footage of the incidents went viral on Friday and were reported on internationally.

Speaking at a meeting of the National Emergency Coordination Group yesterday, Assistant Garda Commissioner David Sheahan said the incident in Tallaght was a ‘one-off’ as he thanked the Defence Forces for assisting gardaí.

He noted that An Garda Síochána generally enjoyed ‘goodwill and co-operation’ of the people who live in the Dublin suburb of Tallaght. However, Garda officers had had to work in ‘a challenging environment… from a snow perspective’.

‘I would like to thank the Defence Forces and the Civil Defence in getting our people to the incident,’ he said.

‘I have to say that from across the country, and I reviewed all matters, this seems to be a one-off incident and let’s hope it remains that way.’

The senior garda added that the biggest challenge had been getting to the scene, and he agreed that the force has taken precautions in light of Friday night’s incident.

‘This happened in the space of a 90-minute period. The biggest challenge we had was actually getting to the scene because some parts of it were inaccessible. But with the assistance of our colleagues in the Defence Forces and Civil Defence and the local authority, we were able to get our people to it and to deal with the situation and certainly we will be giving that particular area attention tonight.’

Mr Sheahan added that he was aware of cars being burnt out. ‘I am aware of that and I believe that there may have been up to six cars that were burnt out.’

‘This seems to have been a one-off incident’