Violent clashes blamed on the far right broke out Thursday evening in Dublin after a knife attack which left five injured, including three children, in which the police ruled out any terrorist motive.
“Irish Lives Matter” signs and Irish flags were brandished during these unprecedented incidents for several years, in which hundreds or even thousands of people took part, noted a journalist from the AFP.
They broke out in a neighborhood where there is an immigrant population, and against a backdrop of rumors about the origin of the alleged attacker, who the police simply indicated was a man in his fifties. years.
A police car and at least one bus were notably set on fire and the police were targeted by projectiles from a crowd which was also hostile towards “the mainstream media”.
“We will not tolerate a few using appalling facts to sow division“, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said in a statement, calling for “calm”.
She further warned that attacks on police must be “condemned” and will be dealt with “severely”.
“Rumors” and “insinuations”
A police official, Commissioner Drew Harris, spoke to journalists of a “faction of crazy hooligans driven by far-right ideology”.
“The facts” which occurred at the very beginning of the afternoon, where a woman and a little girl were seriously injured “are not yet clear”, he stressed, deploring widespread “rumors” and “insinuations”. “for malicious purposes.”
“Irish people are being attacked by these scum,” said one individual during the clashes, others in the crowd referring to the murder of a young teacher by a Slovak national who was recently sentenced to life in prison.
Scenes of looting also took place in a shopping street after young people took advantage of the absence of the police.
According to the first elements of the investigation, a man attacked several people around 1:30 p.m. (local and GMT), Liam Geraghty, head of the local police, said at a press conference.
A suspect has been arrested, announced Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. According to the police, it concerns a man in his fifties, who was hospitalized.
The police are not looking for “anyone else”, declared Liam Geraghty, stressing that the investigators ruled out any “terrorist” motive in view of the first elements of the investigation.
“It appears to be an isolated attack for which we need to determine the reasons,” he said, referring to the use of a knife. “But we are unable to provide additional information on the nature of the injuries,” he added.
The events occurred near a school, according to Irish media.
The five victims were taken to several hospitals in the Irish capital region, police said.
“Isolated attack”
“We are all shocked by the events that occurred in Parnell Square,” the Irish Prime Minister said in a statement, sending “thoughts and prayers” to the victims and their families.
The victims are a man, a woman and three young children. A five-year-old girl and the woman, aged around 30, are “seriously” injured, according to the police.
A five-year-old boy has been released from the hospital, police said.
“Without thinking, I crossed the street to help,” Siobhan Kearney, a witness to the scene, told Irish media RTE.
According to his account, the attacker was disarmed in particular with the help of a young man. “Another man took the knife and put it aside” so that it could be handed over to the police, she said.
Two children and the woman were taken back inside the school where they came from, she added, describing a scene of confusion.
According to her, the attacker was on the ground, in the presence of many people to hold him down.
Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Fein, the third political force in the Irish Parliament, said she was “horrified” by the facts, and indicated that she had spoken with the head of the establishment named Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire, to whom she expressed its support to the educational community.
She also expressed her “solidarity” to the families of the victims and praised the rapid response of the police.