Anti-immigration protesters discussed using stolen cars to drive into Garda lines during a standoff outside a proposed asylum seeker accommodation site in Coolock, Dublin on Tuesday.
The discussion, involving at least two men, was captured on social media by one of the participants and uploaded to social media.
Gardaí are aware of the video and are assessing it, along with hundreds of hours of other footage of the violence from social media and CCTV.
One of the men involved in the conversation is known to gardaí and has previously been arrested and charged in relation to activity outside asylum seeker accommodation elsewhere in the country.
Pro-refugee protesters pull down fences erected to stop encampments along Dublin’s Grand Canal
Anti-immigration protesters in Coolock discussed driving into Garda lines with stolen cars
Court grants order restraining ‘persons unknown’ from attending Coolock site to engage in threatening behaviour
Eyewitness account: Most of the violence in Coolock appeared recreational; perpetrated by boys excited at the prospect of chaos
Video taken by the man on Tuesday evening shows members of the Public Order Unit and other gardaí standing in a line on Malahide Road near the former Crown Paints warehouse which has been earmarked to accommodate up to 550 asylum seekers.
The man can be heard discussing what they allege to be Garda heavy-handedness in responding to anti-immigration protests outside the site on Monday and Tuesday.
“You want two or three robbed cars man. That would shut them c**ts up. Boot it around the corner, knock them all down,” said one man off camera. “No regs or nothing. Raft them all out of it,” he continued.
“That’s what I was saying yesterday,” responded another male.
Gardaí declared the violence on Monday a “serious public order” incident after protesters set several fires and attacked a security guard at the site.
Over the course of the day gardaí from the Public Order Unit clashed repeatedly with protesters, and deployed pepper spray on multiple occasions. A group later surrounded Coolock Garda station and damaged several Garda cars.
By Monday night the violence had largely abated, although gardaí maintained a strong presence in the area.
Twenty-one people have been arrested and brought before the courts in relation to the violence. More arrests are expected as gardaí identify suspects on CCTV and the newly acquired Garda body cameras.
In a statement on Wednesday, Garda headquarters said it was in the process of collating and harvesting CCTV and social media images from the events. An incident room has been established at Coolock Garda station and a senior investigating officer has been appointed.
Appealing to witnesses to come forward, it said: “An Garda Síochána wishes to acknowledge the significant volume of support received from the public to date including calls to Coolock Garda station, the Garda Confidential phone number and receipt of images and videos from members of the public.”
Security sources said there was increasing concern about the propensity for violence among anti-immigration and far-right extremists. There have been several attempted attacks or incidents of intimidation targeting homeless asylum seekers around Dublin this week.
There has also been a marked increase in violent assaults on immigrants by so-called vigilantes, often after the victim has been falsely accused of committing a crime.
Threats against political figures have also increased. On Thursday a 28-year-old west Dublin man was arrested by gardaí from the Special Detective Unit after allegedly threatening to kill Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.
Despite wearing a makeshift balaclava while issuing the threats on social media platform TikTok, the speaker was quickly identified by gardaí as a result of the personal details he posted online. The suspect is well known to gardaí and has appeared in court on a number of occasions in relation to violent offences.
In the video, since removed from TikTok, the speaker threatens violence against Ms McDonald and Mr Harris while expressing support for people engaged in disturbances outside proposed asylum seeker accommodation in Coolock.
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