Senior gardaí warn 'false information' about migrants fuelling protests

(L to R) Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis and Pat McMenamin, Chief Superintendent,

Anti-migration protests are being fuelled by “false information” including about migrants’ “alleged mistreatment of women”, Dublin’s top police officer has said.

Assistant Commissioner (AC) Angela Willis said the live streaming of protests is increasing the “complexities” of the protests, particularly from a policing perspective.

Many of the live videos of protests online, that are taken by far-right agitators, show the extent to which they are used to heighten tensions, including against gardaí.

Mobile phone recordings

In many cases, the people making the mobile phone recordings subject gardaí to high levels of verbal abuse at close quarters, make a point of recording their identities and garda numbers, and issue veiled, and sometimes direct, threats against them.

In her policing report to the Dublin Joint Policing Committee, AC Willis said that under Operation Carageen, gardaí have recorded 316 anti-migrant protests to the end of June 2023.

She said this compares to 156 protests in the same period last year, an increase of more than 100%.

There were 307 such protests for the whole of 2022 and 395 in 2021.

“In 2023, the Committee will be aware that An Garda Síochána, particularly in the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) have responded to a significant increase in volume and frequency of protests,” AC Willis said.

She said the increase in the number of protests the DMR was experiencing was attributed mainly to what may be broadly categorised as ‘anti-migration’ protests, incorporating demonstrations against persons utilising the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) and institutions and or individuals who support same.

In addition, she said there was an increase in ‘counter protests’, by those supporting migration and diversity within the State.

“A principal motivating factor driving the ‘anti-migration’ protests concerns the false information / misinformation regarding migrants, including their access to housing, employment and their alleged mistreatment of women and children,” AC Willis said.

“The widespread use of social media and live streaming of protests is a further contributing factor to the increase and complexities of the protests, particularly from a policing perspective.” 

Dublin city assaults

(L to R) Angela Willis, Garda assistant commissioner, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe, Pat McMenamin Chief Superintendent, and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee TD on Store Street, Dublin after an assault left a tourist badly injured. Photo: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

Elsewhere, the report, which was written before the vicious assault on a US tourist in Dublin’s northeast inner city, shows that the total number of assaults is slightly down on 2022, apart from the end of June and early July, when they were higher.

Robbery cases appear to be higher than last year, particularly during April and May, with theft offences up on 2022.

Drug supply offences are also higher than last year, though drug offences are more associated with actual enforcement levels.

Public order offences, also linked to enforcement, are down on 2022, according to the provisional figures in the report.

Under Operation Citizen, established to improve visible garda patrols in the north and south inner city divisions, there were almost 6,400 cases of people being brought into custody between January and end of June.

Almost €9m worth of drugs were confiscated and 107 firearms (including fake firearms and ammunition) were seized, figures show.

AC Willis said that she set up the Dublin Crime Response Team (DCRT) on a pilot basis at the end of January to operate across the region to target mid-level organised crime groups and “quality of life issues” in communities.

This task force hit a west Dublin gang in June in which €1.3m worth of drugs were seized and a mobile drug pressing unit – built into a large lorry – was confiscated.