ARSON AT A site for asylum seekers in north Dublin yesterday was followed by a day of clashes between gardaí and violent protesters.
The Taoiseach and other politicians condemned the scenes, with Simon Harris describing what had transpired in Coolock as “reprehensible” and “criminal”.
However, seen through the prism of anti-immigration communities and fringe political figures an entirely different narrative emerges: one where peaceful protesters tackle police and the breaking of Garda car windows is an expression of concern for public safety.
A camp had been maintained 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 has 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.
Early yesterday morning, a man who regularly posts anti-immigration content shared a TikTok video from the site saying that the camp had been “destroyed” between 3am and 4am.
A Government-contracted provider had arrived to begin work on the site to allow it be used as accommodation.
Throughout the day, disinformation was spread both by those at the scene and their online supporters calling on people to gather at the site and support those protesting.
“State force is being used upon innocent Irish people wanting to peacefully gather and assemble to show their dissatisfaction with government policy,” Patrick Quinlan of the National Party, elected to Fingal County Council last month, said to camera.
Quinlan continued: “The fact of the matter is that this protest outside Crown Paints in Coolock has been peaceful.”
Earlier that morning, a digger was burnt out and fires blazed at the entrance to the disused factory.
Shortly afterwards, posts on fringe anti-immigrant social media groups celebrated the blaze, which one post described saying: “Coolock Says No To Unvetted Male Invaders being planted into their area.”
(It is false to describe people who have formally sought international protection in Ireland as being “invaders” and misleading to call them “unvetted”).
Other footage posted online showed crowds gathered, chanting “get them out” as groups pushed over steel fencing and squared up to Gardaí.
Videos posted even earlier that morning appears to have documented the rage growing before the fires ignited.
“Youse have been warned, get the fuck out of here,” a man, off camera, shouts at the security guards through a fence. “This is just the beginning.”
Disinformation about asylum seekers generally and the use of the Coolock site in particular have been spread online across recent months.
Video of an April protests against asylum seekers in Coolock feature multiple phrases associated with conspiracy theories, such as “The plantation of Ireland”, an Irish spin on an international conspiracy theory, as well as phrases like “unvetted migrant men” and “illegal immigrants” to describe asylum seekers.
In one speech made at an April protest, a man with a megaphone tells his audience:
“In the middle of the night, they try and bring in these unvetted, child-molesting, Muslim males.”
Referring to clashes in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow, he said: “Let them try and come up to Coolock to do that.”
“The cowards won’t do this in Finglas or Coolock,” another April post about Newtownmountkennedy reads. “They know they’d have riots on their hands.”
Independent Councillor Gavin Pepper, an anti-immigration agitator who was elected to Dublin City Council for Ballymun-Finglas in June, blamed national politicians for the scenes yesterday.
“This is on you. This is on the Dáil. Look at yous are after doing,” he said in a video as the camera panned to look at smoke rising.
“These communities are saying no, they’re worried about their children, and they’re worried about the safety of the community,” Pepper said.
“And if you choose not to listen, this is the end result of it. So, I blame you Helen McEntee. I blame you, everyone in the Dáil.”
Pepper also took to Twitter to accuse Garda Commissioner Drew Harris of orchestrating the entire riot.
Pepper repeatedly and misleadingly called the migrants “illegal” in the short video, including claiming the government wanted to pump “Illegal male migrants” into poor communities (asylum seekers have the right to stay in Ireland while their cases are processed).
“It’s a Jewish plan!” one man with a loudspeaker was recorded saying.
“They’re going to tell you how many calories you can eat. And they’re going to text you what you can eat.
He added that it “has nothing to do with immigration, nothing to do with anything, it’s to do with White destruction”.
The crowd in front of the factory could be seen clapping in response.
In another video, taken as physical altercations between police and protesters become more frequent, one protesters shouts toward the line of gardaí:
“Youse are seeing the crime! Youse know how much the crime has come up, and it’s all down to these migrants. And you’re still letting this happen.”
There is no evidence to back this up.
“Notwithstanding isolated local incidents, An Garda Síochána has not recorded any significant increase in criminal activity or public order issues directly caused by International Protection Applicants at any location where International Protection Applicants are being accommodated,” Gardaí previously told The Journal.
However, footage from the protests, often taken by protesters themselves and posted on social media, shows things turned increasingly violent as the day went on.
“It’s a peaceful protest”, one man says on video right before he records a man launching himself into a Garda, almost tackling him to the ground. The garda retreats, pursued by a man swinging a bicycle lock.
Various posts later in the day targeted gardaí in particular, with one accusing the police of “brutalising women and children”.
A comment in a fringe Telegram channel asked: “At the end of the day, leaving uniforms aside, there’s a planned foreign invasion of this country, by a people of an incompatible ideology who seek to rule it, and a heavily armed mob are sent, by the Government, against the native people to subdue them so it can happen. And the unarmed natives are expected to sit quietly and do nothing?”
A total of 21 people have been charged with public order offences over the events in Coolock yesterday.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say