Anti-immigrant protesters burned a police vehicle and attacked officers near a building housing asylum seekers in Dublin on Tuesday, the justice minister said, a day after a man was arrested for an attack on a young girl nearby.
The incident comes two years after anti-immigrant protesters triggered a major riot in the center of Dublin after the stabbing of three young children.
The Irish Times, which published a video of a burning police van, reported that over 500 people were involved in the protest outside the building in West Dublin on Tuesday evening.
Damage is seen at the entrance of the Citywest Hotel, where disturbances have flared outside the Dublin hotel which used to house asylum seekers, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (Niall Carson/PA via AP).
Videos posted on X by Irish media outlets and anti-immigrant activists showed people holding Irish flags and placards with anti-immigrant slogans. Protesters threw glass bottles and fireworks at police.
“The weaponizing of a crime by people who wish to sow dissent in our society is not unexpected,” Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said in a statement. “This is unacceptable and will result in a forceful response.”
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Police on Tuesday said a man in his 20s had been charged in the area following an alleged serious assault of a female juvenile.
The leader of the largest opposition party Sinn Fein in parliament on Tuesday cited reports that the man had a deportation order issued against him in March this year.
O’Callaghan said he has asked the most senior official in his department for a detailed account of the management of the asylum application in the case. Police did not respond to a request for comment.
While Ireland is almost unique in Europe in having no far-right members of parliament, recent years have brought a sharp rise in the profile of anti-immigrant groups with regular rallies to demand curbs on immigration.
Crime, World
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