Arrests after violent protest outside Dublin migrant hotel

Six people have been arrested after Irish police were attacked with bricks, fireworks and glass bottles at a protest outside a hotel used to house asylum seekers in Dublin.

A police vehicle was also set on fire at the Citywest Hotel, in Saggart, on Tuesday evening. A line of riot police prevented the protesters getting to the hotel.

Gardaí (Irish police) said protesters attempted to breach the police cordon by charging the line with horse-drawn sulkies (carts). Some carried garden forks and tools, while others damaged walls to get missiles.

The police helicopter was targeted with lasers, and one female officer received medical attention for a foot injury.

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said: "The actions can only be described as thuggery. This was a mob intent on violence against gardaí.

"I utterly condemn the attacks on gardaí who did their jobs professionally and with great courage to keep people safe."

He said about 300 officers were on duty, with about half from the public order unit. A water cannon was deployed, as well as officers on horseback and a dog unit.

Broadcaster RTÉ reported that several thousand people had gathered near the hotel.

Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin said there could be no justification for attacks on police.

"There can be no justification for the vile abuse against them, or the attempted assaults and attacks on members of the force that will shock all right-thinking people," he said.

"I pay tribute to the frontline gardaí (Irish police) who acted courageously and quickly to restore order."

Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Simon Harris said "there is no excuse for this type of violence and thuggery against the men and women who serve to protect us and victims of crime every day".

Ireland's Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan said the violent scenes were "unacceptable and will result in a forceful response from the gardaí".

"Those involved will be brought to justice," he said.

"It is clear to me from talking to colleagues that this violence does not reflect the people of Saggart. They are not the people participating in this criminality, but rather the people sitting at home in fear of it."

Speaking during the final Irish presidential debate on Tuesday, Heather Humphreys described the violence as "absolutely awful".

"This is not what we are as a country," she said.

The other presidential candidate, Catherine Connolly, said the scenes in Saggart were "very upsetting".

She added that "we need to be careful in this country" about the divisions emerging.

RTÉ's crime correspondent, Paul Reynolds, said on Wednesday that gardai believe the violence "was pre-planned, but they were also more prepared" than they had been during trouble in the city in 2023.

He added that officers had better and more effective equipment, and had stronger incapacitant spray, as well as water cannon "which they didn't have to fire up".

"The threat of it was enough to disperse the crowd last night and also the violence was more self-contained, because there was a particular area and location outside the hotel where these demonstrators, protesters and violent agitators had gathered," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster.

"So it was concentrated in one area, unlike the Dublin riots of two years ago, where sporadic violence broke out in so many different parts of the city and it took far longer to contain that.

"Last night the gardai clearly had a plan."

He says detectives have already started gathering "very good quality" CCTV footage and also have bodycam footage which "will be used to identify further violent demonstrators".