Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said a “complete lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology” is behind riots in Dublin this evening.
Violent scenes unfolded close to the site of a knife attack outside a school in Dublin city centre, as crowds of protesters gathered.
The Republic's justice minister Helen McEntee said this evening the violence "will not be tolerated", and blamed "thugs" and "criminals" for the disorder and looting.
She said they were using the "appalling" earlier knife attack "to sow division and to wreak havoc in our city centre".
"Every force possible is being used to restore order to the city," she said.
"There will be arrests, people will be put in prison, and order will be restored."
Three young children and a woman were injured in the knife attack on Thursday afternoon, while a suspect in the incident is also being treated in hospital.
Garda Superintendent Liam Geraghty said hours after the attack that he was "satisfied there is no terrorist link" in the attack.
However, Drew Harris said at a later press conference: "I have never ruled out any possible motive for this attack...all lines of inquiry are open to determine the motive for this attack.
"Until we're sure what the motive is then we have to keep an open mind as to why this happened."
A Garda public order unit has been deployed in the area around Parnell Square, Parnell Street and O’Connell Street.
By 10pm, O'Connell Street was completely sealed off. Gardaí said by 10.30pm streets in the area were "mainly calm" and said officers would "patrol the city centre in large numbers".
Rioters earlier attacked a Luas tram on O’Connell Street, smashing several of its windows before setting it alight.
Footage shows a Luas tram on fire amid unrest in Dublin. Cars and a bus were also set alight, as well as garda cars. The unrest followed a knife attack on a woman and three children in Dublin city centre today | Read more: https://t.co/wF0IVM2ijC pic.twitter.com/M3Heb13oxX
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) November 23, 2023
Shop windows in the O'Connell street area were smashed and looting occurred at premises including a Footlocker store and Arnotts department store in nearby Henry Street.
Protesters fired flares and fireworks at the Garda cordon.
Gardaí with shields were fending off violent demonstrators attempting to kick and punch them.
Many of those attacking gardaí had hoods up and their faces covered.
Read More: Witness describes 'bedlam' as Dublin stabbing suspect disarmed following attack
A car on fire on Parnell Street in Dublin was a Garda vehicle.
Another fire was burning on the opposite side of the street.
Mr Harris said a number of Garda vehicles have been damaged.
It is understood tourists in a city centre hotel were told to evacuate the premises, while Trinity College Dublin closed all campus gates.
Irish News columnist Patricia MacBride was in Dublin on Thursday evening and witnessed the disorder.
"All public transport has been stopped, so there are a lot of people in the area trying to avoid the trouble but unable to get home," she said.
"There is a tense air about the place, and gardaí have blocked off access to O'Connell Street."
She said she had witnessed a man receive verbal abuse amid the disorder, with comments directed at him including that he should be "sent home".
"I have also heard a lot of very right-wing sentiments in verbal abuse directed at tarda officers," she added.
Meanwhile, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris condemned those engaging in violence close to the scene of the knife attack.
“I think there’s disgraceful scenes in terms of a major investigation, the maintenance of a scene and the gathering of evidence,” he told media during a press conference at Mountjoy Garda Station.
“We have a complete lunatic hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology, and also then this disruptive tendency engaged in serious violence.
“We are drafting in resources to deal with that and that will be dealt with properly. I’ve given full direction to our resources here in respect of making arrests and bringing offenders to justice.
“It’s our responsibility to make sure that we police the streets, and part of that is we ask people to act responsibly and not to listen to the misinformation and rumour that is circulating on social media.
“The facts are being established, but the facts are still not clear on a lot of the rumour and the innuendo is being spread for malevolent purposes.”
In a statement on Thursday night, President Michael D Higgins said the thoughts of the country were with "each of the children and their families affected by today's horrific attack".
"We are particularly thinking of the five-year-old girl and the member of staff caring for her who are both in serious condition in hospital," he said.
"All of our prayers are with each of them for a full recovery."
He added: "This appalling incident is a matter for the gardaí and that it would be used or abused by groups with an agenda that attacks the principle of social inclusion is reprehensible and deserves condemnation by all those who believe in the rule of law and democracy."
