At one point last Monday evening in Coolock, north Dublin, a man in a wheelchair with breathing apparatus and a carer in tow, was travelling up Brookville Crescent as chaos descended. Lines of gardaí dressed in riot gear were charging towards him, pursuing hundreds of people trying to get away.
An incredulous uniformed woman Garda member – with her baton drawn as chaos ensued around her – asked the man why he was travelling towards a riot.
“I’m just going to have a look,” came his response. The garda pointed out the large rocks and other debris littering the road, telling him “this isn’t the time to have a look, you need to get out of here”.
It was one of the most bizarre moments during two days of disturbances sparked by protests around the former Crown Paints factory being prepared as accommodation for international protection applicants (IPAs).
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Well-known far-right agitators were present in Coolock during the violence. Some far-right figures, with profiles in Dublin, are strongly suspected of driving disinformation.
However, to characterise what occurred this week purely as clashes between the far right and gardaí would be to fundamentally misunderstand what took place.
The Irish Times was present at the site throughout Monday and Tuesday. Most of the violence appeared recreational; perpetrated by boys excited at the prospect of chaos, especially the opportunity to attack the gardaí for whom they clearly had a deep hatred. And most of the people who came out on to the streets were curious members of the public.
Monday’s violence
Just before 4am on Monday a major Garda operation began. It aimed to clear the protesters’ camp and move construction machinery and security workers on to the site to begin the process of readying it for the IPAs.
Petrol bombs were thrown and an excavator at the site was destroyed by fire. Crowds then began to gather through the morning. Just after 10am, with the atmosphere becoming more menacing, it was decided to call in the Public Order Unit.
At Woodies at Malahide Road Industrial Park, a line of Public Order Unit gardaí stretched across the road. They faced a group of about 100 people who had gathered on the northbound carriageway.
Almost all of the crowd stood a long distance from the Public Order Unit gardaí; men, women, boys and girls of all ages. Six masked boys – probably aged about 13-17 years – stepped forward to take on the gardaí. They fired stones, masonry, fast gas canisters and glass bottles at the Public Order Unit gardaí.
The boys also took large wheelie bins from the nearby retail units and set them on fire in the middle of both carriageways. They then fired a volley of fireworks at the gardaí.
And that was the pattern through the day; large crowds of onlookers standing well back as much smaller numbers, of mostly excited teenagers and young men, perpetrated the violence.
“These are the same young fellas who pelt bricks at fire brigades and ambulances for fun, they’re just out for havoc whenever they can get it,” said one middle aged local woman. She said she was “completely against” the housing of 500 IPAs in the area, as Coolock already had many social problems and people there felt ignored. But she was “disgusted” at the violence.
When a 6pm protest was called via social media, larger numbers of people arrived. But the vast majority stayed a long distance away from the Garda lines. Gardaí perhaps lost control of some streets for short periods. This included Garda cars being danced on, and windows broken at Coolock Garda station and two Dublin Buses being surrounded by groups of people.
The vast majority of those gathered in the general area dispersed immediately when lines of public order gardaí appeared on the streets and they did not return; the curiosity of spectators apparently satisfied. In total, 30 arrests were made.
Tuesday’s events
On Tuesday the maximum number of people at the site and on the streets nearby reached about 200. A hard-core of about 50 gathered immediately outside the former Crown Paints facility, the entrance to which had been completely blocked overnight by the erection of three-metre high concrete pillars. Among that group was about a dozen male teenagers and young men who were masked.
The rest of the crowd was, again, made up of onlookers. Some of the people outside the site began making incursions on to Malahide Road at about 7.30pm, which forced gardaí to close the northbound carriageway. Smoke bombs and fireworks were ignited. Public Order Unit gardaí on the scene in vans then charged, or chased, those present down Malahide Road. Within about 30 minutes the crowd had dispersed.
Garda tactics
The Garda’s new larger and more powerful pepper sprays, and their new riot shields, proved very effective. These were bought by the Garda after shortcomings with equipment arose during the riots in the city centre last November.
The Garda’s formations, and the way they moved in very tight lines, instantly clearing streets, was also very notable. Those sharper public order tactics have been honed during enhanced training since last November.
And though some Garda members were wearing the new body-worn cameras, most of those on duty were not. That is because the cameras have been rolled out in Dublin only to gardaí in a very small number of stations. That means the follow-up Garda investigations may result in fewer arrests than expected.
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