Hundreds took to the streets of a working-class area in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday after the country’s government moved a large number of male migrants into a former office block in the area.
The “smuggling” of a significant number of male migrants into a former office block in a working-class community in the Irish capital has provoked outrage from locals, with hundreds taking to the streets on Saturday as part of an impromptu protest against the influx.
With authorities having taken an ideological open borders approach to various ongoing migrant and refugee crises, Ireland is now struggling to deal with a large surge in foreign arrivals, with some towns seeing their populations double within weeks as a result.
Such a policy has resulted in serious hardship for various communities within the EU member-state, with officials in one small town that is now around 20 per cent migrant saying that locals are afraid to walk the streets.
According to a report by Gript Media, such tensions have now spread to the Dublin town of East Wall, which reportedly saw busloads of majority-male migrants moved into an old office block in the area under the cover of night.
While the government scheme to move migrants into the area appears to have been completely unknown to both locals and the media, footage appearing to show one busload of migrants arriving at their new accommodation quickly went viral online, sparking backlash.
Although the post describes “Hundreds of African & Middle Eastern MEN” as being brought to the area, the number and origin of the arrivals has yet to be confirmed.
In response to the arrivals, the following day saw hundreds take to the streets in opposition to the use of the office block, with chants of “get them out” seemingly being heard at the demonstration.
Malachy Steenson, an activist and local solicitor, is meanwhile reported as telling the crowd to return to the site of the office block next Monday at 5 p.m. with more people for another protest.
“On Monday evening, ensure that you bring not just yourselves, but your wives, your husbands, your children, your neighbours [and] everybody else,” he said. “This meeting was called at very short notice and a massive crowd has turned out.”
“We want twice that crowd on Monday evening,” he added.
Speaking to Breitbart Europe, the leader of the Irish Freedom Party, Hermann Kelly, said it was completely understandable why locals were protesting, saying a massive influx of migrants into Ireland this year has left the country struggling.
“They obviously worry about the safety of their children and how the taxpayer will pay for all this Free Stuff largesse,” Kelly said of the protests. “Ireland is full, and we have no duty to be anybody’s colony.”
“It’s telling that the chants have changed from ‘no more migration’ to ‘get them out’,” he continued.
“I expect Monday to be a large protest, hopefully its message will reverberate loud and clear into Leinster House,” he said, in reference to the building which houses Ireland’s national parliament, the Oireachtas.
A report by state-owned broadcaster RTÉ on the arrivals has claimed that the disused office block the migrants have been moved into is set to be used for 12 months.
While questions no doubt exist as to how suitable such accommodation is, the move is unsurprising considering Ireland reportedly has a shortfall of 15,000 beds for migrants and asylum seekers looking to stay in the country, with more and more arriving each day thanks to the open borders approach adopted by ruling politicians.
Such an approach has proven extremely contentious over recent months, with the huge influx of both allegedly Ukrainian and officially non-Ukrainian arrivals putting a huge amount of strain on housing, infrastructure and services in the country.
It also appears to have taken its toll on the communities within which hundreds of asylum seekers have been deposited, with officials in one area saying that locals are now afraid to walk the streets due to the migrant presence.
“I know for a fact that there are people actually afraid to walk the streets or walk down along the road,” one elected local councillor said, describing her constituents as “living in fear”.
Another alleged that migrants in the area had been causing trouble, with footage appearing to show some in the area harassing a woman going viral in Ireland on social media earlier this month.
Despite the backlash, though, it is unlikely things will change in Ireland any time soon, with ruling politicians in the country voicing their commitment to keeping the borders open despite the risks it poses to the Irish population.
Ireland even recently completed a near-blanket mass amnesty for illegal migrants in the country, which reportedly even allowed illegals with a criminal record to gain permission to officially stay in the country, putting them on the pathway towards Irish and, by extension, EU citizenship, as well as the right travel to and reside in the United Kingdom via the Common Travel Area.