Following a stabbing attack in central Dublin on Thursday night that left five people—three children and a school care assistant among them—wounded, riots rocked Ireland’s capital city of Dublin on Thursday evening and early on Friday morning.
NBC News reports that 200 to 300 individuals took part in the riots, which resulted in the burning of buses and police cars and the suspension of public transportation.
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According to the New York Times, “misinformation” regarding the supposed attacker’s nationality started to circulate, sparking the riots.
Authorities said they had a man in their 40s or 50s under custody, but they gave no further details.
The man was recognized by the Irish publication Gript Media as an Algerian national who had immigrated to the nation “several decades ago.”
The attack with the knife happened at 1:30 p.m. According to Fox News.
“It was gratuitous thuggery,” Chief Superintendent of Police Patrick McMenamin said of the riots, according to Fox News.
Some of my colleagues were also attacked and assaulted. Thankfully there were no serious reports of injury,” McMenamin added.
In addition, a nearby immigration center was set on fire, and shops were looted, according to Newsweek.
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According to The Irish News, Ireland’s national police commissioner, Drew Harris, attributed the riots to a “wholly insane group motivated by extreme right-wing ideology.”
The nation’s minister of justice, Helen McEntee, denounced the rioters as “thugs” and “criminals,” vowing that the mayhem and looting that followed the attacks “will not be tolerated.”
In reaction to the rioting, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar stated that the government would propose new legislation to address social media incitement, according to The Irish News.
“It’s now very obvious to anyone who would have doubted it that our incitement to hatred legislation is not up to date for the social media age,” Varadkar said.
Axios reported that 34 people were taken into custody by police on charges of public order and threat, with 32 of them scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
“These are scenes that we have not seen in decades,” Harris said, according to Axios.
“But what is clear is that people have been radicalized through social media over the internet,” he added.
“Those involved brought shame on Dublin, brought shame on Ireland and brought shame on their families and themselves,”
“As a country we need to reclaim Ireland. We need to take it away from the cowerers who hide behind masks and try to terrify us with their violence,” he added.
According to the BBC, two of the stabbing victims were critically injured. The victims were a 5-year-old girl and a school assistant who “used her body as a shield” to shield children from the attacker.
