THE FALLOUT OF the disturbance seen in Coolock on Monday is continuing, with 21 people charged with public order offences and condemnation from the Taoiseach, Justice Minister and across the political spectrum.
A further six people appeared in court this afternoon after violent scenes erupted in the north Dublin suburb.
A camp had been in place in front of the old Crown Paints factory since March by people who were against the site being used to accommodate International Protection applicants.
The Department of Integration said the site would be used to house up to 500 people on a phased basis, and that protests at the entrance to the site have delayed work beginning for several months.
The camp set up tents there, with tricolour bunting and Irish flags draped along the wall and ‘Coolock says no. Out’ spray painted on it.
On Monday morning, a man who regularly posts anti-immigration content shared a TikTok video from the site saying that the camp had been “raided” and “destroyed” between 3am and 4am.
A Government-contracted provider had arrived to begin work on the site to allow it to be used as accommodation.
In a statement to The Journal, the Department said that no IP applicants were due to be accommodated yesterday, with the work expected to take several weeks to complete.
In the footage, fencing can be seen encircling the entrance to the site with security guards both inside and outside. The man can be heard shouting at one security guard, who is Black: “If you’re not Irish, get the f**k out.”
Another man can be heard telling the security guard: “You’ll end up getting shot stood there… just so you know what you’re getting yourself in for.”
More people arrived at the site later in the morning and posts were shared on social media platforms, including Facebook and X, calling for more “friends and patriots” to join them.
At 8.15am, Stephen Redmond, an unelected member of the far-right National Party from Finglas, shared the same TikTok video, calling for Coolock to “rise again” and saying workers at the site were paving the way for “a Plantation Centre”.
Use of the word “plantation” in reference to buildings and campsites housing asylum seekers is commonly found among those in Ireland who adhere to the white nationalist ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory.
At 11am, videos shared online show a fire had been lit in the cab of a digger that was in the grounds of the former factory. Mattresses that were intended for the site had also been set on fire and the fencing at the front of the site was spread across the dual-carriageway.
The crowd had grown at this point, with a number of Gardaí and emergency services vehicles seen in the videos shared. Gardaí can be seen asking those who had gathered there to disperse. Other videos showed people pushing the fencing into the line of Gardaí that had formed near the entrance.
By 12pm, the Malahide Road had been closed and there were close to 20 Garda vehicles parked along the road. A Dublin Fire Brigade truck was still at the scene having mostly extinguished the fire, and around 50 Gardaí were present.
A crowd of around 100 people had gathered. This was mostly made up of young men, but also included older men, women and mothers with small children, some in prams, and older children on bikes. Some stood at the front of the entrance to the site, while others hung back to observe what was going on.
Brian Garrigan, who runs a computer repair business in Fairview and who unsuccessfully ran as an independent candidate in the local elections, held an ‘Irish Lives Matter’ poster at the scene for most of the day.
Signs reading ‘Concerned parents of Coolock’, ‘Protect our children’ and ‘Concerned Communities say NO’ were erected in the middle of the dual carriageway.
At 12.45pm, a man with a megaphone began addressing the crowd, rhyming off numerous conspiracy theories, using racist rhetoric to describe Black and Muslim people and claiming that people seeking asylum would harm children.
Some of this was cheered and applauded by the crowd, who became visibly angered as the man continued speaking. “Yous should be ashamed of yourselves,” one woman shouted at the Gardaí. “What if it was one of your kids?”
“The game is up. There’s a lot of people copping on,” one man with his face covered shouted, while another man said: “I’ll gladly go to jail, no problem, and so will everyone else.”
“F**cking scumbags, the lot of yous,” was directed towards the Gardaí by another young man.
The atmosphere had grown more tense, and as Public Order Unit (POU) Gardaí arrived at the scene shortly after 1pm, young men – many of whom had their faces covered – grabbed some of the fencing and moved it in front of their vans.
They stood in front of the POU officers and started to mock and address them, with one man asking why they were not arresting Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman. Young children moved closer to watch the scene, some gathering stones and smashing broken pieces of concrete against the kerb.
This continued for around an hour until the officers with shields deployed moved to try and disperse the crowd at 2.10pm. They moved some into the carpark of the adjacent retail park before they advanced as protesters sprinted away and clashes broke out.
The Malahide Road remains closed in both directions as Gardaí respond to a public order incident in Coolock.
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Pepper spray was deployed as bottles and rocks were thrown at Gardaí. A number of arrests were made as the crowd filmed and shouted at police. Further down the Malahide Road, a wheelie bin was set alight and protesters ripped branches from trees to burn as fireworks were directed at officers.
Gardaí and the POU maintained their presence at the scene as things calmed. “I’m sure your mothers would be proud of yous,” a woman shouted at officers as a Garda van carrying those who had been arrested was driven away.
While a lull in hostility followed, posts began appearing on social media calling for people to gather for a protest at the site at 6pm.
“See you in Coolock at six o’clock,” said Cork-based far right social media personality Derek Blighe, president of the Ireland First party.
Philip Dwyer, self-styled “citizen journalist” and member of Ireland First, arrived at the scene at 3pm. He was later arrested and charged for public order offences.
At 6pm, things escalated as more people arrived at the scene and the standoff continued. When people prevented a POU van from passing on the Malahide Road, Gardaí used pepper spray to move protesters back.
People began throwing missiles, including bottles, fireworks and smoke bombs at Gardaí before more POU Gardaí charged protesters to move them further back on Malahide Road.
Independent councillor Gavin Pepper, who was present at the scene throughout the day, said that he and North Inner City councillor Malachy Steenson were pepper sprayed by Gardaí after asking them to “de-escalate this”.
Shortly before 7pm, a group of people then made their way to Coolock Garda station. Footage shows a group of young men outside the station as soon proceed to smash and jump on Garda vehicles as others cheer and film them.
In a separate video, one man can be seen crouching beside one of the tyres of a vehicle and putting his hands under the wheel arch before Gardaí chase the group further up the street. It is not clear whether the tyre was slashed or something was placed on it.
In a video shared at 7.30pm, two Dublin Buses are seen surrounded by a group of people preventing them from driving further. One man kicks the front of one of the buses as another man can be heard shouting “let the bus go”.
One woman who lives in Coolock said in a post on X that people were attempting to remove bins from gardens in order to block the road. She said her husband was injured after being attacked by a small group when trying to take their bin back.
Gardaí continued to push crowds back from the site from 8pm, and the Malahide Road reopened shortly before 9pm.
A total of 15 people were charged with public order offences. They appeared before a late-night sitting of the Criminal Courts of Justice on Monday night.
A further six people appeared in court on Tuesday. All those charged have been released on bail.
Tall, concrete barriers were erected at the entrance to the site on Tuesday. People gathered there again to protest against its use for accommodating asylum seekers from the afternoon.
A small crowd grew to around 100 after a protest was called for 3pm, with some wearing face coverings and carrying Irish flags. Gardaí had maintained a presence near the site throughout the day.
Some of those who had gathered there spilled out onto the northbound carriageway of the Malahide Road later in the evening. The road was closed and traffic was diverted.
The Public Order Unit were deployed to the scene at around 8.30pm to disperse the crowd, which was smaller than on Monday. The Garda helicopter could also be heard in some of the footage shared online.
Unlike Monday, there appeared to be no clashes between officers and those who had gathered there. The operation was quicker, and the road was cleared before 9pm.
Separately, Dublin City Council confirmed to The Journal that it has received six complaints against Gavin Pepper in relation to his presence at the public order incident on Monday, ”which will be assessed and investigated as appropriate”.
Pepper, who represents the Ballymun-Finglas Local Electoral Area, recorded a video statement from the site on Monday, in which he described the demonstration as the logical result of government policy, and called for the deportation of what he described as “illegal male migrants”.
Conor Reddy, who is also a councillor for the Ballymun-Finglas area, said that he was aware of multiple constituents who said that they intended to make complaints, adding that the “misinformation that [Pepper] engaged in yesterday was a disgrace”.
With reporting by Steven Fox
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