Timeline: How the knife attack and Dublin riots unfolded

Debris is cleared from a burned out Luas and bus on O'Connell Street in Dublin. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Several vehicles were set on fire and some stores were looted in Dublin on Thursday amid some of the worst rioting seen in the capital in decades.

By the time darkness fell, gardaí from the public order unit were attempting to contain the unrest and restore public order after the stabbing of three young children and a woman in Dublin's Parnell Square earlier in the afternoon.