6 arrested after protesters clash with police outside Dublin hotel housing asylum seekers

LONDON (AP) — Six people were arrested after a crowd outside a hotel housing migrants near Dublin threw bricks, bottles and fireworks at officers and burned a police van, Ireland’s national police force said Wednesday.

One police officer was treated for a foot injury, said the force, the Garda Siochana.

Hundreds of people, many waving Irish tricolor flags, gathered outside the CityWest Hotel in Saggart, on the fringes of Dublin, on Tuesday evening after reports of a sexual assault in the area.

Some attacked police who stood between them and the hotel, with attempts to charge the police line with horse-drawn carts. Police used pepper spray as they tried to disperse the crowd.

Police Commissioner Justin Kelly condemned what he called “thuggery” by “a mob intent on violence.” Prime Minister Micheál Martin said there was “no justification” for the disorder.

Hotels housing asylum-seekers have attracted protests in Ireland, as well as in neighboring Northern Ireland and Britain, often spurred by reports of crimes committed by residents and stoked by anti-immigration and far-right campaigners.

In November 2023, hundreds of anti-immigrant protesters looted shops, set fire to vehicles and threw rocks at police officers in central Dublin after three young children were stabbed outside a school.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said a man had been arrested and appeared in court over the alleged sexual assault in Saggart.

“Unfortunately, the weaponizing of a crime by people who wish to sow dissent in our society is not unexpected,” he said. “Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. Violence is not.”