Teddy bears grabbed extra tightly awaiting to board flight on State's deportation order

In the first media coverage of a deportation in Ireland, Cormac O'Keeffe and photographer Chani Anderson report on the people — not least the children — being removed, the efforts of gardaí to do their job humanely, and the political tumult around them

A mother with her five-month-old baby and six-year-old son carrying a blue teddy is escorted from the security area back onto a garda vehicle during Operation Trench. Picture: Chani Anderson

It's normal to see children clasping their teddies at airports for comfort.

But watching a boy holding his turquoise teddy tight to his chest on his way to be deported jarred.