Flash Bulletin: Dublin Riots 23/11/2023
Dublin City
On the 23rd of November, a stabbing incident occurred outside Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire (Irish Speaking) School on Parnell Street in Dublin City centre. Five people were injured in the attack, three of those being children, the youngest victim was 5 years old. The school is located near O’Connell Street, the main shopping district in Dublin City. The perpetrator has been detained following the attack and was injured as he was being restrained. There have been no updates on the motive of the perpetrator, but the Gardaí don’t believe that it is terror-related. The assailant is reported to have Irish citizenship and has been residing in Ireland for over 20 years.
Later in the evening following the incident, there were riots in Dublin City Centre that were instigated by far-right extremist groups in Ireland. Irish Police Commissioner Drew Harris stated that the riots were driven by far-right ideology and social media to create mayhem in the aftermath of the attack. There was information spread on social media that the stabbing was committed by an immigrant of Algerian descent although this has not been verified. This resulted in calls for violence against immigrants in Ireland and trending hashtags on X (Twitter) including #IrelandBelongstotheIrish and #IrelandisFull. The riots involved arson attacks as Dublin Buses were set on fire as well as the Luas (Tram Line), and Gardaí (Irish Police) were assaulted and their vehicles damaged and set on fire. There were also incidents of looting and destruction of stores in the city centre. According to media reports, 11 police vehicles have been damaged, 13 shops were badly damaged with more looted, three buses and a tram were also destroyed. There was graffiti written on buses that read “Get migrants out”, the Dublin Fire Brigade stated that there was a refugee centre petrol bombed around 18:00 and the fire engine called out to the blaze was also attacked and damaged. Currently, 34 have been arrested with 32 scheduled to appear in Irish courts today. According to minister Leo Varadkar approximately 500 people took part in the riots.
Locals have said that although it was predominantly young people in their late teens to early 20s carrying out the violence and destruction, they were being radicalised and egged on by older generations. Conor McGregor, an Irish MMA fighter who has been in trouble with the law on more than one occasion tweeted, “Ireland, we are at war.”
Far-right extremist parties, particularly The National Party, did not waste time in manipulating the events and used the stabbing incident to drum up support for their party stating, “Enough is enough. Are you happy to sit and watch Irish children stabbed, or will you man up , and fight back? Make Ireland Safe for our Children,”
The National Party were also tweeting in support of the riots stating, “Buses, trams and shops are insured. They are replaceable. Irish children are not.”
Conspiracy theories and misinformation are being spread that the government is ‘flooding’ the country with migrants and the result is a rise in violence. Other conspiracy theories claim that the Dublin riots were a Garda operation in order for the government to gain more control. The Irish Light newspaper on X claimed it was staged by ANTIFA.
A video from a WhatsApp group called ‘Kill All Migrants’ has been circulating of an anonymous man encouraging people to take whatever they have and to go out and attack and kill migrants.
The groups involved in the rioting and the far-right extremists that are driving the anti-immigrant narrative are manipulating the story to suit their narrative. What they are not sharing is that it was a Brazilian national who heroically restrained the assailant. Deliveroo driver Caio Benicio intervened as soon as he witnessed what was occurring and managed to remove the weapon from the man.
The response seen in Dublin is a bold display of the callousness of the extreme far-right, the manipulation of events and spreading of misinformation and manipulating the tragic events as a tool for advertising their own agenda. Although we should be aware of the perpetrators involved in attacks, the main concern and focus should always be the victims affected in the aftermath of an attack. As this is being written the 5-year-old victim is critically wounded and is being treated for serious injuries along with a crèche worker in her 30s who fought to protect her.
Recently we published an insight about the rise of that far right in Ireland that you can read here https://www.glitterpill.io/insights/the-sovereign-voyage-irelands-journey-to-far-right-extremism which provides evidence as to why this isn’t a surprise, far-right ideology has been growing rapidly since the Covid-19 Pandemic and these groups have been coordinating and targeting LGBTQ+ community and immigrants.
This issue will continue to get worse unless the warnings by analysts are taken seriously. Glitterpill analysts are continuing to monitor the situation and will provide updates as they arise.
