THREE PEOPLE WERE arrested in the Temple Bar area on Friday night for public order offences, gardaí said, as clothing store Tola Vintage hosted its annual block party to celebrate Culture Night. 

It was the store’s fourth year running the event.

The incident, filmed and widely shared on social media, has led to engagement this weekend between An Garda Síochána and various representative groups who fear a difference in policing for black communities, compared with other groups.  

Writing on the store’s Instagram, a spokesperson said: “Once a year, we host a block party outside our store for Culture Night. We invite local DJs, customers, creatives, and friends to join us for the evening.”

The event took place outside the small chain’s flagship store on Fownes Street, in the Temple Bar area. It has two other stores in Dublin, one on College Green, and another on Aungier Street.

“We never anticipate the size of the crowd, but the event always wraps up by 11:30, and everyone helps clean up the street,” the post continued. 

“This will be our last year hosting a block party outside our store, as we don’t receive the same respect given to other businesses and streets in Dublin, where people are free to drink on the streets and party every weekend.”

A senior garda source told The Journal that the incident came after an operation by gardaí to clear the streets for public safety reasons, including access for emergency personnel. 

A garda spokesman also said that any actions undertaken by gardaí on Culture Night “were solely focused on public safety in a public space”. 

The gathering outside the premises of the store had attracted a large crowd, “unsuitable for the street capacity”, he claimed, adding, “The premises had also not put in any additional public safety measures for the advertised event.” 

“A number of individuals present, particularly those who had consumed alcohol, failed to comply and actively disrupted garda directions for persons to disperse from the street,” the spokesman said.

Footage of the celebrations seen by The Journal shows a large number of gardaí gathered at the party. It soon descends into violence, with one man being pushed to the ground by a number of gardaí. In the video, someone can be heard saying: “He’s bleeding”.

In a statement to The Journal, a garda spokesman confirmed that a number of arrests had been made, stating: “Gardaí arrested three people for public order offences around Fownes Street, Dublin 2 at approximately 10.10pm.”

In its own statement posted to Instagram, representative group Black and Irish said it was aware of the clash between gardaí and attendees of the event, and expressed its solidarity to Tola Vintage. The group, alongside the owner of Tola Vintage, said it would be meeting with garda representatives to discuss the incident in the first week of October. 

The group asked that anyone who had attended the event and has information that may be useful to get in touch. 

“We share in the disappointment from many creatives and event goers, particularly from the black community, who feel like this is an all too frequent thing.

“We stand in solidarity with POC event organisers, creatives and event goers who want to make this city and country a fun and exciting place to be. This is the first conversation in what can be a broader discussion around the over-policing of the black creative scene in Ireland,” the group said.

Gardai confirmed today that “following concerns raised with An Garda Síochána by some representative groups, An Garda Síochána through the Garda National Community Engagement Bureau and local management have engaged with a these representative groups. This engagement is ongoing.”

The owner of Tola Vintage told The Journal that he would prefer to not comment on the matter.