Dublin’s streets ablaze: Rioting, looting and vehicles set alight on the streets of Ireland’s capital

The streets of Dublin city centre were ablaze on Thursday night, with at least one Garda vehicle, a double-decker bus and a Luas tram set alight and several shops looted.

In the wake of the stabbing attack on several schoolchildren on Parnell Square, a major riot broke out on O’Connell Street, the city centre’s main thoroughfare, and surrounding streets.

Large numbers of gardaí were mobilised in an attempt to restore order, clashing with groups of rioters. The shops broken into and looted include Arnotts and Footlocker.

There was a series of tense standoffs as gardaí with riot shields sought to secure O’Connell Street and push crowds of protesters out further and further from the centre of the city.

Vast majority of anti-immigration posts relating to Wicklow protests came from non-Irish accounts

---

Gardaí make further arrest over Dublin city riots in November

---

Dublin city centre 40ft tree to be cut down after fire damage from riots

---

Poles in Ireland: ‘You’re always going to be a blow-in, no matter how long you live in a place’

---

At one flashpoint a group of rioters on Lower Abbey Street pulled out a glass recycling bin from a nearby bar, tipping it over. The contents provided ammunition, with individuals launching a stream of glass bottles at the line of gardaí.

People caught up in the disorder hugged the side of the street, some recording the scenes unfolding in front of them on their phones.

Shortly afterwards gardaí charged forward, pushing the rioters further down the street.

The large crowd gathered at a junction clear of the Garda cordon, where a small group broke into a Gala corner shop. A line of young men dipped under the shutters, emerging with alcohol, bread and other items. Three young men involved in the chaos stopped to laugh with their friends, each holding a shoulder of spirits.

There was a febrile atmosphere in the air as the line of riot gardaí held the line further up the street.

A delivery driver on a moped tried to drive through the group of at least 200 people, causing the crowd to start to turn on him. The driver struggled to turn his bike around as several people surged towards him, before he was able to accelerate away down the street he came.

A hundred yards away on Marlborough Street the glass door into the back of a Sports Direct store was smashed in. A man stepped out from inside the shop, rolled down under a shutter and out on to the street, clutching as many coats as he could carry.

As the chaos seemed to spread from street to street, shops that had remained open quickly pulled their shutters down.

Two teenagers ran up to a group standing watching a line of gardaí, apparently disappointed to have missed most of the riot. “We came in too late, bro,” one said to the other.

Street by street gardaí sought to push out the cordon they had secured further in an attempt to dissipate the rioters and in so doing calm the madness.