Injured garda remains in hospital after unrest and fire in Coolock
Scenes near the Crown Paints Factory after a fire was started in the building on Friday night after an earlier peaceful public meeting and march to the Coolock Garda Station. Picture: © RollingNews.ie
One man has been arrested and three members of An Garda Síochána were injured - with one hospitalised - following unrest at a disused factory in Dublin earmarked for international protection applicants (IPAs).
A fire broke out the former Crown Paints factory on Malahide Road in Coolock on Friday night following a protest earlier in the day against the use of the building to house around 500 IPAs.
It is the third fire at the premises this week. On Monday, a JCB was set alight in the wake of a protest, while a fire was also lit in the reception area of a building at the site on Thursday night.
Dublin Fire Brigade personnel attended the scene of Friday's fire, and were quickly able to quickly bring it under control.
The garda public order unit also attended the scene on Friday, and gardaí say rocks, concrete bricks and other items were thrown at some officers present.
As this intensified, a garda spokesperson said gardaí were then required "to use force to defend themselves while continuing to adopt a graduated approach to policing, with enforcement as a last resort. This use of force involved the use of incapacitant spray and the ASP baton".
A man in his 20s was arrested and brought to a Garda Station in Dublin for public order offences.
He has since been released without charge and gardaí say investigations are ongoing.
Three members of An Garda Síochána were injured in the disturbances, one of whom was transferred to hospital late on Friday night for treatment.
He remains in hospital for observation after being hit on the head with a rock during the protest. He is understood to be doing well but may have suffered a concussion.
The uniformed Garda was stationed behind a line formed by the Public Order unit when he was struck. A rock thrown from the crowd went over the heads of the public order unit - who were all dressed in protective uniforms - and hit a Garda in the forehead.
All three gardaí who received injuries are recovering and a full array of welfare supports has been made available to them.
The Irish Examiner observed as up to 18 objects including rocks and glass bottles were thrown at the Public Order Unit while they were stationed near the Cadbury’s Chocolate factory.
The roads had to be closed to let two units of the fire brigade in to tackle the blaze.
One rock thrown from the crowd went over their heads of the public order unit - who are all dressed in protective uniforms - and hit a Garda in the forehead.
He was taken to hospital for observation and is understood to be doing well but may have suffered concussion.
Two other gardaí were injured during the violence and one person was arrested.
A four hour stand off took place following a protest attended by up to 600 people.
The demonstration is in response to the proposed housing of up to 500 international protection applicants in the area.
Earlier on Friday evening, a rally attended by hundreds of people at the entrance of the warehouse heard from local councillors and representatives from the area.
Dozens of families, including young children then marched to the nearby Coolock garda station.
In a statement, An Garda Síochána said it was aware of "a significant degree of disinformation and inaccuracy" regarding events at the former Crown Paints factory.
A garda spokesperson advised people to "independently verify any of this information shared online via social media and/or through messaging apps".
"Investigations into this and other related incidents are ongoing," the spokesperson added.
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