On Tuesday night in Citywest, Dublin, An Garda Síochána faced the biggest test of its public-order policing since the November 2023, city centre riots, when the organisation was badly exposed.
The Citywest riot was one of the most serious violent disorder incidents in the Republic in the modern era. But it seems the costly – and embarrassing – lessons of two years ago have been learned.
While a Garda van was burned out at Citywest, this was a public-order operation that saw the more than 300 gardaí present exert their dominance, at will, over up to 1,000 people, which included some described as “violent thugs”.
The large protest group was afforded time by the Garda to become tired over a period of about a
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