Violent protests in Dublin took Ireland by surprise

Last week’s anti-immigration riots demonstrate the rise of the far right in one of Europe’s most tolerant countries

The violent protests that broke out last week in Dublin, the capital of Ireland, were very surprising: they were incited and led by hundreds of far-right and anti-immigration activists, in a country considered… One of the most tolerant and open countries towards immigrants Within the European Union. The protests began after a person stabbed four people in central Dublin on Friday last week, and spread when there was talk on social networks of a terrorist attack committed by a foreigner: in fact at the moment, his identities and nationalities are not public and the police have expressed serious doubts about whether The attack had ideological or religious motives.

The major clashes with police have highlighted the growing perception among many Irish people that foreigners are responsible for increased crime and other problems, a perception that until at least last week had been the subject of sporadic protests and mostly peaceful demonstrations.

The stabbing incident that sparked the protests occurred at lunchtime last Thursday, in front of a primary school in Parnell Square in central Dublin. The people who were stabbed are two girls aged 5 and 6, a boy aged 5 and a woman aged around 30: the woman and one of the girls are currently in the hospital. The suspect in carrying out the attack was arrested, and he was injured: Believes He is an Irish citizen, possibly of foreign origin.

The protests began on Thursday and Friday night, when hundreds of people stormed the center, raising anti-immigration slogans and chants: major clashes took place with the police, bottles were thrown, windows were smashed, fireworks were set on fire and vehicles were set on fire. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar He said About 500 people participated in the protest and 34 of them were arrested: they are now accused of committing various crimes against public order and some thefts.

The protest in central Dublin in the previous hours had been instigated by various social media accounts and online groups, some of which were overtly racist and xenophobic, with very explicit calls for violence. Among the most widely circulated contents on the Internet are a series of Messages He appeared in a chat called “Kill All Immigrants”, where members were invited to protest by killing “every gypsy, foreigner, anyone”. In the hours following the protest, police attributed responsibility for the riots and the spread of fake news to a “psychopathic faction of far-right rioters.”

The protests did not actually affect foreigners, and mostly resulted in the destruction of shops and the burning of cars and vehicles. Meanwhile, the clashes have raised strong concerns among foreigner communities living in Dublin and the rest of Ireland. there Muslim sisters in IrelandAn organization for Irish and Muslim women has stopped distributing food to the homeless, one of its main activities. to’Algerian Embassy (One hypothesis about the suspect in the stabbing is that he is of Algerian origin.) He instead called on Algerian citizens residing in Ireland not to leave their homes to avoid violence.

Last week’s anti-immigration protests are relatively new for Ireland, a country historically tolerant of immigrants, and where anti-immigration sentiment in recent years has expressed itself in a less overt way and so far in fairly peaceful, scattered and limited forms. .

The Irish have a history of systematic immigration that is unique in contemporary history, and which has also been accompanied by a relatively recent history of emigration. Discrimination and humiliationWhich made the Irish people very sensitive about this issue. To date, one-fifth of the total Irish population has been born outside Ireland: however, unlike many other European countries, immigration has not yet become a particularly divisive issue in Irish domestic politics. It is also for this reason that Ireland has traditionally been seen as somewhat of an exception, and the Irish have gained a reputation for being a people’s people.Naturally welcoming».

This attitude can be seen in popular culture (there is a famous Gaelic saying, very present in Ireland). One mile failedwhich means “hello a hundred thousand times”) and in opinion polls: Ireland is almost always in Global rankings It is one of the most welcoming and best integrated countries in the European Union.

But in recent years, things have begun to change: groups of far-right activists have begun to repeatedly exploit immigration to present it as the main cause of many problems linked above all to increasing costs of living and immigration. Housing crisisIt is a problem that affects thousands of people in Ireland. Peaceful protests against reception centres, whether existing or about to be established, are very frequent, and in 2019, a hotel in County Leitrim, in northern Ireland, which was on the list to host asylum seekers, was burned down twice.

Anti-immigration activists have also exploited court cases involving foreigners to create panic and present immigration as a security threat: one recent case was the conviction in 2022 of a Slovakian man, Jozef Buska, for the murder of a teacher, Ashling Murphy. Irish Police Chief Drew Harris He said to guardian The belief that the far right and its extremism represents a danger to Irish society, and the assumption that there will be more violent protests such as those that broke out last week.

Last week’s protests were also strongly condemned by a large portion of the Irish public, and a fundraising campaign was organized for a foreign man, a Brazilian national, Caio Benicio, who last Thursday stopped the attacker who stabbed the four people in front of the primary school. The fundraising campaign, titled “Pay a Beer to Cayo Benicio,” has raised more than 300,000 euros.

– Read also: There is Ireland everywhere

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