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The violence in the Irish capital on Thursday night was fuelled by far-right agitators spreading rumours online about an attack on three young men earlier in the day.
By Isabella Kwai and Adam Satariano
Reporting from London
Shortly after three young men and a woman were injured in a knife attack outside a Dublin school on Thursday, rumours about the perpetrator’s nationality began to proliferate online.
The Garda Síochána, Ireland’s police force, declined to comment on the rear of the suspect, who was detained after being knocked to the ground by bystanders. The police only said that it was a man in his 50s.
But unconfirmed reports that he was an Algerian migrant temporarily began circulating among anti-immigration and far-right groups, according to researchers specializing in online extremist movements.
Alongside those rumours: a call for a rally in the centre of Dublin, in which anti-immigrant voices express a position against crime and in defence of Irish children.
What were online conversations ended in the worst riots to hit Ireland in decades, when rioters clashed with police, set cars on fire and looted shops. Some demonstrators held signs that read “Irish Lives Matter. “Others vandalized hotels and shelters meant to space out migrants.
Several police officers were injured, one seriously, and 34 other people were arrested, Drew Harris, the commissioner of the Guardian, told reporters on Friday.
“We’ve never noticed a public disorder scenario like this before,” he said. An organization of other people had taken “a thimble of facts” and added “a bath of hypotheses, odious hypotheses,” he said.
In a speech on Friday morning, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar condemned the unrest and said police would combat “waves of crime. “
“The other people involved have embarrassed Dublin, Ireland, their families and themselves,” Varadkar said. “That’s not who we are. It’s not what we need to be, and that’s not what we’ll ever be. »
Researchers who specialise in the spread of extremism online said the riots were an example of how far-right teams were capitalising on the discontent and disenfranchisement of some Irish people, at a time when many are struggling to cope with the burden of living and housing. crisis.
Like many parts of Europe, Ireland has gained an influx of newcomers in recent years as conflict, economic tensions and climate change have led to migration. In the year to last April, the number of migrants to Ireland reached a 16-year high. 141,600, according to official data, totaling more than 40,000 Ukrainians.
Some of the far-right influencers who called on others to take to the streets on Thursday cited a high-profile attack that rocked Ireland last year: the killing of a 23-year-old teacher, Ashling Murphy, who was stabbed while jogging. a canal road. Jozef Puska, a Slovak citizen who emigrated to Ireland 10 years ago, was convicted of his murder and sentenced last week.
Jane Suiter, a professor at Dublin City University who studies disinformation, said news of Thursday’s attack temporarily spread on social media and anti-immigration.
Gript, a right-wing news platform in Ireland, was one of the first to publicly recommend that the attacker was Algerian. This claim on X, the social media site, was shared through right-wing leaders, adding Tommy Robinson, Professor Suiter said, and further amplified on Telegram channels and social media groups.
“It snowballed,” he said, adding that the protest in central Dublin was modest at first. “But then young people started coming from all over and converging. “
The cause of Thursday’s insurrection was a stabbing outside a school at 1:30 p. m. , during which 3 schoolchildren were injured, as well as a daycare employee who was defending them. One of the children, 5 years old, remained in critical condition on Friday, while the woman was in serious condition.
But the underlying reasons for the violent riots go back much further, said Matthew Donoghue, associate professor of social policy at University College Dublin.
“People don’t feel safe, they feel worried, they feel marginalized, not because of migration yet, but because of the social and economic situations in which they have to live,” he said, pointing out the increase in inequality, especially in housing. “Some teams have become very adept at taking advantage of that. “
Far-right ideology has grown in Ireland through social media and messaging platforms, said Ciarán O’Connor, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that studies online hate and disinformation. Reading thirteen million posts across 12 online platforms, the researchers found that teams that first shared anti-Covid-19 vaccine and anti-lockdown perspectives had evolved to focus on refugees, asylum seekers, and other minority teams.
Telegram, an encrypted messaging app, is popular with extremists. The messages started there, O’Connor said, and then peaked at the number of people in a row. “Social media platforms are being weaponized by far-right and U. S. teams exploiting sensitive public and social issues,” he said.
When the government on Friday suggested to the public to be vigilant about the spread of incorrect information online, Telegram channels used by far-right teams were filled with anti-immigration sentiments. On Twitter, #IrelandisFull is trending.
Telegram did not respond to a request for comment. Busy now, check back later,” X said in an automated reply to an emailed comment.
Government officials praised the role of Caio Benicio, a Brazilian Deliveroo driver who intervened in the knife attack by hitting the suspect with his motorcycle helmet.
“It all happened by instinct,” Benicio told national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann, or RTE. “I was shocked. I didn’t even have time to freak out.
Mr. Benicio moved to Ireland a year ago. When asked about anti-immigrant sentiment from the riots, he replied, “I’m an immigrant and I was there, just to protect the Irish, you know. “
Videos from downtown Friday showed a heavy police presence and the city removing burnt debris from roads and towing a broken-down tram. Some schools and businesses in Dublin were closed on Friday afternoon, RTE reported.
Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, said the country would “modernise” its legislation on incitement to hate speech to cover social media platforms and in the coming weeks would pass a law that would allow police to make greater use of CCTV footage they picked up on Thursday. Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee told RTE that those accused of assaulting a Garda officer could face up to 12 years in prison.
Police said the motive for the stabbing was unclear and they were keeping an “open mind” in the investigation. Commissioner Harris said the force would review its tactics for combating civil unrest, but rejected claims that police had not involved the riots, saying they may simply not have expected its intensity.
The researchers said the country wants to tackle far-right extremism more seriously and tackle the underlying problems of inequality and social exclusion.
“This has to be a wake-up call,” said Rory Hearne, an associate professor of social sciences at Maynooth University in County Kildare.
Isabella Kwai is a reporter in the London bureau. She joined The Times in 2017 in the Australia bureau. Learn more about Isabella Kwai
Adam Satariano is a generation correspondent in Europe, where his paintings focus on virtual politics and the intersection of generation and global affairs. Learn more about Adam Satariano
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