DUBLIN (Reuters) -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 centre 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.
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 weaponising 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.”
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.
(Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Padraic Halpin)
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