Violent protests in Dublin after woman and children injured in knife attack

Buses and trams have been torched and a shop looted during riots in Dublin city centre after a stabbing attack outside a school left three children injured.

Police and politicians called for calm amid warnings against misinformation as violence escalated from a demonstration that began on Thursday afternoon at the scene of the incident.

There were clashes with riot police as some demonstrators let off flares and fireworks, while others grabbed chairs and stools from outside bars and restaurants.

A police cordon was set up around the Irish parliament building, Leinster House, and officers from the Garda Mounted Support Unit were in nearby Grafton Street.

More than 400 Irish police officers were involved in the height of the response. In a video statement on social media, Ch Supt Patrick McMenamin said some members of the police force had been attacked and assaulted.

However, he said no serious injuries had been reported by gardaí or members of the public. Gardaí remained on patrol in the city centre, he said, adding: “Dublin city centre is now calm and returning to normal.”

The Irish justice minister, Helen McEntee, labelled the scenes “intolerable” and said a “thuggish and manipulative element must not be allowed to use an appalling tragedy to wreak havoc”.

The garda commissioner, Drew Harris, said a “complete lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology” was behind the disorder.

The violence broke out after three young children and a woman were attacked in Parnell Square East in the north of the city centre. Police detained a man in his 50s, who was also being treated for injuries, and said they were not seeking other suspects.

The incident happened at about 1.30pm on Thursday outside a school, Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire. Police said a five-year-old girl, a woman in her 30s and a man in his 50s sustained serious injuries. The girl was receiving emergency medical treatment. A five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl were treated for less severe injuries. The boy was discharged from hospital.

Supt Liam Geraghty appealed to anyone with information about the incident, including mobile phone footage of the attack and its aftermath, to come forward. He praised the bystanders who intervened in what he said was a traumatic and dangerous incident.

Earlier on Thursday, Supt Liam Geraghty said officers were keeping an open mind in terms of the investigation but were “satisfied there is no terrorist link”.

However, at an evening press conference Harris said: “I have never ruled out any possible motive for this attack … all lines of inquiry are open to determine the motive.”

Harris said it was too early to ascribe a motive. “An individual has been arrested, we’re not seeking anyone else in respect of this incident itself at this moment in time but the investigation will obviously unfold,” he said.

Riot police stands guard near the scene of the suspected stabbing, 23 November 2023. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

On Thursday night a helicopter hovered overhead as police in riot gear used shields and batons to clear a crowd down O’Connell Street, Dublin’s main thoroughfare. At the other end, by O’Connell Bridge, flames rose from the remains of a bus and a car.

People smashed store windows and set off fireworks, turning the night air acrid. Loud bangs echoed across the city. When asked why they were there, members of the crowd threatened journalists and claimed the media were not telling the truth about immigration.

Harris called for “calm heads” and warned against misinformation as he condemned the “disgraceful scenes” in Dublin. He said a “complete lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology” was behind the disorder and a number of garda vehicles had been damaged.

“It’s our responsibility to make sure that we police the streets, and part of that is we ask people to act responsibly and not to listen to the misinformation and rumour that is circulating on social media,” he said. “The facts are being established, but the facts are still not clear on a lot of the rumour and the innuendo is being spread for malevolent purposes.”

McEntee said: “The horrific attack today in Dublin city centre was an appalling crime that has shocked us all. However, the scenes we are witnessing this evening in our city centre cannot and will not be tolerated. A thuggish and manipulative element must not be allowed to use an appalling tragedy to wreak havoc.”

Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire is an Irish-medium primary school with 172 pupils based in a four-storey Georgian building on Parnell Square, a busy thoroughfare in Dublin’s north inner city.

The attack reportedly happened as pupils emerged from the school. Bystanders disarmed a man and pinned him to the ground, with several kicking him, one witness, Siobhan Kearney, told RTÉ. “People were trying to attack the man. So me and an American lady formed a ring around him saying we’d wait on the garda.”

Another man safeguarded a knife for police to retrieve, Kearney said. “Two children and the woman were taken back into the school where they were coming from. It was absolutely bedlam.”

The Irish president, Michael D Higgins, expressed his sympathies for the children injured in the attack. “All of our thoughts are with each of the children and their families affected by today’s horrific attack,” he said. “We are particularly thinking of the five-year-old girl and the member of staff caring for her who are both in serious condition in hospital.”

He added: “This appalling incident is a matter for the Gardaí and that it would be used or abused by groups with an agenda that attacks the principle of social inclusion is reprehensible and deserves condemnation by all those who believe in the rule of law and democracy.”