Anti-immigrant protesters burned a police vehicle and attacked officers near a constructing housing asylum seekers in Dublin on Tuesday, the justice minister said, a day after a person was arrested for an attack on a young girl nearby.
The incident comes two years after anti-immigrant protesters triggered a serious riot in the middle 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 within the protest outside the constructing in West Dublin on Tuesday evening.
Damage is seen at the doorway of the Citywest Hotel, where disturbances have flared outside the Dublin hotel which used to deal with 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 criminal offense by individuals who want to sow dissent in our society just isn’t unexpected,” Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said in a press release. “That is unacceptable and can lead to a forceful response.”
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Police on Tuesday said a person in his 20s had been charged in the world following an alleged serious assault of a female juvenile.
The leader of the biggest opposition party Sinn Fein in parliament on Tuesday cited reports that the person had a deportation order issued against him in March this 12 months.
O’Callaghan said he has asked essentially the most senior official in his department for an in depth account of the management of the asylum application within the case. Police didn’t reply to a request for comment.
While Ireland is sort of unique in Europe in having no far-right members of parliament, recent years have brought a pointy rise within the profile of anti-immigrant groups with regular rallies to demand curbs on immigration.