2023-11-23 22:50:41
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An individual, described as an “Algerian migrant” on social networks and by many demonstrators, injured five people, including three children, in a knife attack Thursday afternoon. The protesters brandished “Irish Lives Matter” signs on Thursday evening.
Scenes of chaos in the Irish capital. The city of Dublin was plagued by looting and fires all evening on Thursday, November 23, a few hours after a violent knife attack in front of a school. Five people, including three children, were injured Thursday afternoon. A 5-year-old girl and a woman were “seriously”, according to the police. “This appears to be an isolated attack for which we need to determine the reasons.“, she said. According to a witness, the attacker was disarmed with the help of a young man. “Another man took the knife and put it aside» so that he could be handed over to the police, he said.
If the identity of the alleged attacker has not been officially revealed, the police simply indicate that he was aged “fifty years», Rumors swirled online about his nationality: Algerian. Some online media, such as Griptfollowed by nearly 55,000 people onfrom a reliable source“. On social networks, some Internet users describe him as “refugee“. None of this information could be verified at this stage. In any case, the noise from the corridors was enough to set the city ablaze.
“Irish lives matter”
Around 7 p.m. local time, the first incidents were noted, while hundreds of individuals, sometimes hooded, took over the streets with signs “Irish Lives Matter» («Irish lives matter”, taking up the slogan “Black Lives Matter »). «A number of police officers were attacked», Announces the media of the public service RTE. Fireworks mortar fire and projectile jets target them near Parnell Square, in the center. The situation will gradually degenerate when demonstrators spread across the capital. On social networks, amateur videos show young individuals, Irish flags around their waists, destroying police vehicles with fists and sticks.
Images of a burning bus flood the Internet. RTE, for its part, confirms ongoing looting, including that of a sports store. Shop windows are vandalized, as are bus stops. A tram was also severely damaged. The police officers deployed are struggling to stem the violence of the events, even in the city center. Testimonies, impossible to verify at the moment, indicate that a center for migrants was also set on fire.
Hostile towards “mainstream media”
Still, the authorities were forced to close one of the city’s largest arteries, O’Connell Street. All buses circulating in the capital were also suspended in the middle of the evening, Trinity College, the city’s tourist and historical emblem, closed most of its access doors.
Before the night’s riots, the knife attack sparked reactions right up to the top of the state. “We are all shocked by what happened in Parnell Square“, declared Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in a statement, addressing “thoughts and prayers» to the victims and their families. The leader of Sinn Fein Mary Lou McDonald, the third political force in the Irish Parliament, said:horrified» by the facts, and indicated that she had spoken with the head of the establishment named Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire, to whom she expressed her support for the educational community. She further expressed her “solidarity» to the families of the victims and welcomed the rapid response of the police. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also said:shocked” by this “brutal attack».
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