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School gate stabbing -

On Thursday, November 23, 2023, an attack happened as children left their school in Parnell Square, a busy thoroughfare in Dublin’s north inner city.

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Injuries -

A girl (five) and a woman in her thirties were seriously injured by a man with a knife, while a six-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy sustained less serious injuries.

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Onlooker intervention -

A Brazilian Deliveroo driver, who saw the man attacking a young girl with a knife, got off his bike and started hitting the attacker with his helmet. More passersby intervened to protect the children and restrain the man.

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Riots -

However, after 6 pm that evening, a mob of at least 100 rioters took to the streets, clashing with police and setting schools and shops on fire.

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Flares -

Demonstrators set off flares and fireworks. Others grabbed chairs and stools outside bars and restaurants and threw them at police.

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Rumors -

Rumors had been circulating on social media about the nationality of the suspected perpetrator of the afternoon stabbings at the school.

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Social media misinformation -

No details about the attacker were available publicly, and misinformation about the attack circulated online afterwards.

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Arson and looting -

Buses and trams were set on fire, store windows were smashed, and shops were looted as loud bangs rang out around the city.

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Arson and looting -

The Irish public broadcaster, RTE, showed a bus set on fire that was graffitied with the word "Out."

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Irish police -

At the peak of the response to the disturbance, over 400 police officers were deployed to Dublin city center to deal with the violence.

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Irish police -

Police in riot gear used shields and batons to clear a crowd on O’Connell Street, in Dublin's central area, as a police helicopter hovered overhead.

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Injuries -

A superintendent spokesman said some members of the police force had been attacked and assaulted, in a video statement released on social media.

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Anti-immigrant slogan -

RTE also reported that protesters had chanted anti-immigration slogans.

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Journalists threatened -

Members of the crowd threatened journalists and claimed the media were not telling the truth about immigration, when they were questioned about why they were causing the violence.

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Calls for calm -

Police and politicians called for calm and warned against misinformation over the attack earlier in the day.

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Calm restored -

Calm was restored to the city by police before midnight.

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Far-right ideology -

Garda (Irish police) Commissioner Drew Harris said a "complete lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology" was behind the disorder.

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Unprecedented -

Such rioting is almost unprecedented in the Irish capital. No far-right parties or politicians are elected to parliament.

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Anti-immigrant sentiment -

However, there has been a growth in small, anti-immigrant protests in the last year.

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Parliament security -

A recent protest trapped lawmakers inside parliament, causing a government review of security in and around the building.

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Intolerable -

Irish Minister for Justice Helen McEntee called the behavior "intolerable." She said that a "thuggish and manipulative element must not be allowed to use an appalling tragedy to wreak havoc."

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Condemnation -

Irish President Michael D. Higgins said the disorder "deserves condemnation by all those who believe in the rule of law and democracy."

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Hate crime legislation -

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said legislation for hate crime would be brought before the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) in response to the riots.

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Arrests -

The rioting caused "huge destruction" and led to 34 arrests, the police commissioner confirmed on November 24, 2023.

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Damage -

Transport services were disrupted during the violence, while 11 police vehicles and 13 shops were badly damaged during the clashes.

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Aftermath -

Several police officers were injured in the riot, the police commissioner confirmed, with one being seriously hurt.

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Aftermath -

During more than three hours of sustained rioting, three buses and a tram were also destroyed.

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Police response -

The police commissioner denied that his force had failed to protect Dubliners and their city from the violence. "We could not have anticipated that in response to a terrible crime—the stabbing of school children and their teacher—that this would be the response," he said.

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Cleanup -

The next morning, tributes were being paid to emergency services and council and transport workers, who were on the front line dealing with the rioting and the cleanup afterwards.

Sources: (The Irish Times) (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Sydney Morning Herald)

See also: Fascinating facts you didn't know about Ireland

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