Attending a demonstration on Grafton Street on Thursday 19 which caused significant traffic delays in Dublin, News Editor Adam Behan and Ashe Tambke detail an encounter between two opposing groups along the march to Leinster House.
Early on the morning of Thursday 19 September, barricades manned by the Public Order Unit of the Gardaí were erected on each side of Kildare Street in Dublin City in preparation for an anti-immigration march organised by a right-wing nationalist group called Citizens of Éire. The group marched from O’Connell Street to the gates of Leinster House to protest the government’s approach to accommodating migrants in Ireland.
Anti-immigration protesters gathered from around the Republic to rally against immigration to Ireland. A coalition of various right-wing groups, led by Citizens of Éire, came together to protest the use of various sites across Ireland to house migrants of various statuses. Banners strung out reading “Newton says no” and “South Dublin says no, Close the Borders” represented small-scale anti-immigrant groups organised by local communities. Roughly 500 people are said to have attended the march.
A counter-protest, organised by United Against Racism, assembled on the corner of Grafton Street and Suffolk Street to voice their anti-racist and pro-immigration stance. One individual held a placard which displayed the slogan ‘Yes to Internationalism’, with the Irish flag in the centre, surrounded by a plethora of international flags. Another banner displayed the phrase ‘Stop Climate Change Not Refugees.’
The anti-racist activists made several speeches condemning the Government’s inaction in addressing increasing homelessness in the capital, as well as the rest of Ireland. There are currently 14,429 registered homeless people across the country, according to Focus Ireland, 4,410 of which are children. The counter-protestors further criticised the Government’s lack of a functional strategy to accommodate and integrate immigrants of different backgrounds and statuses into the country.
Various speakers called for greater cohesion and solidarity among left-wing activist groups to oppose the growing presence of organised right-wing rallies across the country
One speaker recounted an incident of an immigrant, “a young boy no older than 15 or 16”, being attacked with a glass bottle on Thomas Street. Another incident occurred on Saturday 14, when a group of tourists of various nationalities reportedly barricaded themselves in a bar on Thomas Street when a gang of teenagers, one alleged to have had a hammer, attacked the group.
The march reached a boiling point when pro-immigration and anti-immigration protesters met during the procession towards Leinster House, culminating in the arrests of 19 people, according to reports
When the march encountered the counter-protest on the corner of Grafton Street, anti-immigration protestors chanted “get them out” and started fights with the anti-racist counter-protestors. Relative to the size of the anti-immigration march, the group of counter-protesters was much smaller.
One man, who attacked an ANTIFA protestor, was promptly arrested by the Gardaí. The Public Order Unit managed to prevent any large conflict between the two contrasting groups of protestors, forming a wall between the two groups.
The anti-immigration protestors eventually reached Leinster House later in the afternoon. Draped in Irish flags, Republican imagery, and anti-immigration banners and signs, they vocalised their anti-immigration stance in front of Leinster House. On O’Connell Street, a number of far-right protestors remained behind the rest of their group, playing Irish trad music in front of the GPO with Irish flags. The counter-protest reformed at the Dawson Street barricade to chant anti-racist slogans at the march as it reached Leinster House on the other side of Molesworth Street.
The erected barricades, along with the closure of several roads to facilitate the march, caused significant traffic delays in Dublin City Centre. The Green Luas line and many of the bus routes passing through the centre towards North and South Dublin were temporarily closed or rerouted, adding to the traffic congestion. Traffic delays continued to be reported late into the evening of Thursday 19.