A man has been charged with a public order offence following protests around a makeshift camp set up by asylum seekers in Dublin.
The man in his 30s was arrested on Friday evening and has since been charged to appear before Dublin District Court later this month. Tents were set on fire after violent clashes on a small cul-de-sac off Sandwith Street near the International Protection Office which escalated on Friday.
Gardai confirmed fires were started in the area where the asylum seekers had built their camp, but no one was injured.
Read more: Protestors clash with gardai in city centre after asylum seeker's camp set alight
Before the fires there were tense confrontations between residents and groups from outside the area who said they had come to defend the asylum seekers.
This came after a protest had been called against the presence of people camping at the back of the derelict St Andrew’s Court flats between Pearse Street and Holles Street.
A separate protest was organised in support of the asylum seekers and gardai formed a line to separate the two groups. Gardai say the fire was started as people were dispersing and that no one was injured.
Locals had been complaining that the asylum seekers had been “dumped” in their area as there is no proper accommodation available for them.
The Department Children. Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Affairs has said that officials are liaising with gardai over the incident.
In a statement, the Dept said work is taking place to secure further accommodation and it “hopes to deliver significant capacity in the coming weeks to alleviate the shortages being experienced presently”.
The Dept also said that the interim work is “ongoing to increase support for those who are without accommodation”.
In recent days it emerged that there are 562 international protection
applicants who have not been given accommodation here. The Irish Refugee Council described the events last night as shocking and of deep concern.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described the city centre protests as “malign opportunism” while Sinn Fein TD Eoin O Broin tweeted: “This is racism, pure and simple.”
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