Police in Ireland stand accused of using a “wall” of officers to prevent a peaceful protest against mass migration into the country.
Ireland’s police service, An Garda Síochána, has been accused of preventing a peaceful demonstration aimed at protesting the country’s open borders approach to mass immigration.
The prevented demonstration was one of a great many protests arranged in the country over the last week against the recent surge in arrivals, which has seen tens of thousands of migrants arrive on its shores despite there being nowhere to house many of them.
With many of these protests taking place in working-class areas that have been disproportionally affected by the island’s migrant crisis, tensions between locals and the country’s police have risen substantially, though anti-mass migration protests have not been characterised by violence so far.
This has reportedly not stopped police in the country from escalating tensions, however, with Gript Media reporting one group of protesters accusing the Irish police force of preventing one of their organised marches against “the placement of unvetted male migrants into the area”.
According to the demo organisers, a march they said consisted mainly of “women and girls” was blocked from marching by what they described as a “wall” of police officers.
Video of the confrontation posted online appears to show members of An Garda Síochana blocking the march from moving forward, with one officer reportedly telling the demonstrators that it was “not safe” for them to continue.
“They were two deep with large Garda vans and squad cars,” one protester reportedly said, describing the actions of the officers as “just not right”.
Despite the obstruction seemingly resulting in frustration on the side of the demonstrators, the blocked marchers remained peaceful, with a statement by the police force confirming that there were no incidents reported at the demo and that no arrests were made.
This has largely been a trend for the protests in Ireland that — while occasionally marked by some fiery rhetoric — have so far succeeded in maintaining a peaceful approach to opposing the mass migration crisis.
The same cannot be said for a similar demonstration that took place in the United Kingdom on Friday evening, with a protest outside a migrant hotel in Merseyside devolving into a riot.
Seemingly sparked by a video appearing to show a migrant said to be housed in the location propositioning a teenage girl for sex, violence soon erupted between the anti-migrant demonstrators concerned about the presence of “pedophiles” and Antifa activists, who showed up to counter-protest the event.
A total of 15 people were arrested by police in relation to the violence, which saw one police van being set on fire, with one police officer and two members of the general public left injured by thrown objects, which reportedly included lit fireworks.
One 19-year-old has since been charged with violent disorder in relation to the night’s events, with extra police now reportedly being stationed around the hotel in the hopes of preventing another riot.