Gardaí face 'near anarchy' amid protests against asylum seekers

Many protests are conducted peacefully but increasingly challenging behaviour has been seen in recent weeks including marches by large numbers of masked and hooded men, and gardaí being verbally abused as 'the fucking enemy'. File picture: Colin Keegan/Collins

The Garda Representative Association has warned of “near anarchy” as “antisocial elements” have latched on to protests against asylum seekers.

Detective Garda Mark Ferris of the Garda Representative Association for the Dublin west division said youths at anti-immigrant protests had threatened officers, calling them “the fucking enemy”. He called for a specialist taskforce to cope with this “emerging conflict”.