Police have arrested one man after a truck was used to bash down the gates of the Russian embassy to Ireland.
Ireland’s police force An Garda Síochána have arrested one man after the gates of the Russian embassy in Dublin were bashed open by a truck on Monday.
The embassy has reportedly been the location of daily protests since Russia launched a new stage in its long-term attempted occupation of Ukraine last month.
Video of the incident uploaded online by Ireland’s state-owned broadcaster RTÉ news appears to show the truck reversing through the gates of the embassy on Monday afternoon.
The Irish Times meanwhile reports that the driver of the vehicle — who is said to have self-identified as a “working man” from County Leitrim — disembarked the truck and proceeded to hand out images of what he said were Russian atrocities in Ukraine.
“I’ve done my bit lads,” the publication reports him as saying. “It’s about time the rest of Ireland done their bit.”
“I want the ambassador and his colleagues to leave this country, leave this free country,” he is also reported to have said. “It’s about time we stood up.”
In a statement seen by the publication, Ireland’s national police force have said that they are investigating the matter, having made one arrest.
“One male was arrested and taken to Rathfarnham Garda Station where he is currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984,” a spokeswoman said. “Investigations are ongoing.”
According to the Irish Times, the Russian embassy in Ireland’s capital has already been the subject of vandalism, with graffiti reading “nazis”, “blood on your hands”, and “f**ck Russia” being scrawled on the embassy’s exterior.
Red paint has also been thrown by one Catholic Priest at the complex’s exterior, with the clergyman describing Putin as a “terrorist”.
“I had no other option,” said Fr Fergal MacDonagh, parish priest of Barn/Rialto. “I am old, I can’t go and fight. I wouldn’t even make it to Ukraine, but I could go to the Russian embassy and pour red paint symbolising the blood of the innocent, men women and children who are being killed.”
He also is reported as saying that the Irish public should keep in mind the possibility of burning the embassy down, a threat that is not unheard of in Irish politics, with the British Embassy having previously been razed shortly after the Bloody Sunday massacre in Co. Derry.
“It needs to be an option while they are still here,” the Irish Times reports Fr. MacDonagh as saying.
The Irish state meanwhile has been very active in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with some politicians suggesting that the country could do away with its traditional position of neutrality.
One minister has meanwhile said that Ireland will likely be expected to take in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees displaced by the conflict, roughly amounting to two per cent of the country’s population.
“…that two per cent is likely to get very real, very quickly,” said Minister of State Anne Rabbitte, who claimed that a serious influx was likely within weeks, or even sooner.
A reporter of Virgin Media News reports Russia has protested the police’s handling of the truck ramming incident, remarking that it took place in full view of officers “who stood idle”. Russia, which hasn’t exactly proven itself a reliable partner protecting the rights of others, complained that not protecting its embassy was a breach of the Vienna Convention.