Ireland: Protesters Clash With Police at Proposed Asylum Housing Project

Facts

• Irish police have arrested at least 15 people after protesters clashed with officers on Monday at the construction site of a new housing project in north Dublin that would accommodate up to 500 asylum seekers.¹
• This comes as dozens of police lined up to block and used tear gas to disperse protesters who threw bricks and launched fireworks, as demonstrations against the housing of hundreds of migrants have been ongoing for months.²
• One security guard and multiple police officers were reportedly injured, and a digger was also attacked. Two hundred officers and 40 police cars responded to the standoff, which intensified around lunchtime Monday and lasted into the night.³
• All 15 suspects were released on conditional bail and are due to appear in court again on Sept. 18, while an additional four suspects were reportedly due in court Tuesday.⁴
• This follows violent riots in the Irish capital city last November in the wake of a knife attack outside a school. At the time, properties used to house asylum seekers were targeted.¹
• The Irish Department of Justice reports that there are currently over 31K asylum seekers in the country, more than a third of which applied in the first six months of this year. Another 10K applications are projected through the course of 2024.⁵

Sources: ¹Guardian, ²Daily Mail, ³InfoMigrants, ⁴BBC News and ⁵The Irish Times.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by Time. The far-right in Ireland has been ramping up its attacks on asylum seekers largely thanks to online misinformation. Due to ignorant anti-immigrant rhetoric, these violent groups have chosen not only to attack asylum seekers but also the law enforcement officers tasked with protecting their homes. This growing extremist ideology has spread across Europe, but it's become most potent in Ireland as the country attracts more and more asylum seekers.
• Right narrative, as provided by Gript. What the media won't tell you is that this protest took place at a now-defunct factory— one that used to employ 150 people before their jobs were outsourced to foreign countries, driving these working-class Irishmen into poverty and drug addiction. After years of neglecting their own Irish citizens, the government has all of a sudden decided to pour money into housing foreigners who have no connection to Ireland. Violence is wrong, but their anger is understandable.