Garda investigation into second assault on a refugee in Dublin
Protesters outside Finglas Garda Station on Wednesday night. Picture: RollingNews.ie
Gardaí are conducting an investigation into a second anti-refugee assault in Dublin this week.
It comes as gardaí investigate calls from a masked speaker at an anti-refugee protest in Finglas on Wednesday evening to march on an immigration centre and “burn them fucking out”.
One of the initial organisers of that protest — arrested on Wednesday morning — continues to be questioned by specialist detectives for alleged subversion-related offences.
Gardaí believe that arrest “took the heat” out of the protest, given there were online threats of protesters taking over Finglas Garda Station and policing the area themselves.
However, officers remain on alert for further confrontation and possible violence.
Detectives in Dublin’s north inner city are investigating a recorded assault on a refugee last Tuesday after he went into Temple Street Children’s Hospital and allegedly said he wanted to rape children.
It is understood a hospital staff member may have informed people in the locality and a group of people arrived at the scene.
They recorded gardaí interacting with the man and followed them to Store Street Garda Station.
Gardaí conducted a brief assessment of the individual at the station.
While they are treating the remarks seriously and are investigating the matter, gardaí believe he is a “vulnerable adult” with possible mental health issues and that he may not have posed a real threat.
He was released from the Garda station, but was followed by the group.
He was assaulted by a number of men, during which he was kicked repeatedly. Some of this was recorded by the attackers and circulated online.
This assault follows a separate violent incident at a migrant camp in Ashtown last Monday, in which a foreign national was injured after being struck by a bat or baton, gardaí say.
Gardaí have photographs of the incident and are trying to identify the assailants. Witness statements have also been given.
Gardaí suspect these attackers were under the mistaken belief that migrants from the camp carried out a sexual assault on a woman in Finglas early on Friday.
However, as the revealed on Tuesday evening, detectives have established that a white Irish male was involved in the alleged sexual assault and not migrants or refugees — allegations that were spread widely online by far-right agitators.
One such agitator, an organiser behind protests in Finglas, was arrested by the Special Detective Unit on Wednesday morning and questioned about alleged offences under the Offences Against the State Act.
He was questioned under Section 7, which relates to preventing or obstructing organs of the State, in this case the police, from exercising their duties.
Anyone prosecuted and convicted of this offence faces a maximum jail term of seven years.
