“This is Ireland, this is our country, get them out, get them f***ing out,” roared a woman through a loudhailer.
She was encouraging rioters to take on gardaí outside the Citywest accommodation centre for international protection applicants (IPAS) in Saggart, Co Dublin, on Tuesday night.
For almost two hours, lines of gardaí came under sustained attack from a mob. Many in the crowd were armed with fireworks, glass bottles, traffic cones and masonry obtained from demolishing a wall in the nearby Melbury Oaks housing estate.
Some householders rushed out of their properties to remonstrate with the rioters. But on seeing the sheer numbers of masked young men, many in a frenzy breaking down a wall with their bare hands, they immediately thought better of it and retreated.
A horse-drawn sulky was charged into lines of gardaí, the animal clearly distressed. Some protesters seized upon a passing truck, taking tools from the back to use as weapons: shovels, rakes and a pitch fork.
“This was a mob intent on violence against gardaí,” said Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly. “This was obviously not a peaceful protest.
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