crime
Criticism of the minister and police after riots in Dublin
A bus burns in Dublin city center after a man injured three young children and a woman in a knife attack. photo
© Brian Lawless/PA Wire/dpa
After the serious riots in the Irish capital, the country’s justice minister and the police chief have come under criticism. Calls for resignation are becoming louder.
Police lost control of parts of the Irish capital on Thursday and made “catastrophic operational errors,” McDonald said. Cabinet member Paschal Donohoe accused Sinn Fein of misusing the escalation for party political purposes. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar supported the emergency services.
On Thursday evening, numerous people rioted in Dublin, including many right-wing extremists. They looted shops, attacked police officers and set emergency vehicles and buses on fire after a man had previously stabbed three small children and a carer, some of them seriously, in the afternoon. The riots were incited by reports on social media that the perpetrator was a migrant. Dozens of people were arrested.
In order to prevent new riots, strong police units were deployed in the city center on Friday evening. Several people were temporarily arrested. They were suspected of planning riots. As the broadcaster RTÉ reported, the Irish police received two water cannons from Northern Ireland in order to be prepared for new riots.
Government officials praised passers-by who subdued the knife attacker, including a Brazilian delivery driver. Caio Benício (43) told the Irish Times that he hit the man’s head with his motorcycle helmet. The father of two children criticized the riots that followed as senseless. “I know that anti-migrant groups were also involved. And I, as a migrant, was the one who helped hold back the attacker,” he said.