People gathered at Citywest Hotel in Saggart holding banners in the colours of the Irish flag which read “she was 10”, and let off pink smoke
A peaceful demonstration has taken place at a hotel housing asylum seekers in south-west Dublin.
People gathered at Citywest Hotel in Saggart holding banners in the colours of the Irish flag which read “she was 10”, and let off pink smoke.
The area saw disorder last week after an alleged sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl in the area.
A 26-year-old man, who cannot be named because of legal restrictions around sexual assault cases in Ireland, appeared in court last Tuesday charged over the incident.
Protests were held at the hotel for several evenings, with disorder breaking out on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Protesters have carried Irish flags, chanted anti-immigration slogans and thrown missiles.
On Monday evening, there were peaceful scenes from 5pm in a pre-arranged women and children’s protest.
Gardai maintained a presence and barriers had been erected. The protest finished with the singing of Crazy World by Aslan.
Monday evening’s peaceful protest followed warnings from Justice Minister that any further scenes of violence in the area would be met with a “forceful response”.
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said last Thursday that he hoped “We’re not going to see more of it, but if there are people out there who’ve made a decision that they want to go up there and create violence, they’ll be met with a very forceful response from An Garda Siochana (Irish police) and our criminal justice system.”
He told RTE News: “People are perfectly entitled to make a political point, they’re perfectly entitled to oppose Government policy.
“They are not entitled to use violence and break the criminal law, and attack members of An Garda Siochana who are there to defend the Irish public.”
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