Timeline and Brief Analysis of Dublin Riot

From 14.16, one prominent agitator began sharing posts across platforms stating misinformation that there were five dead, and another replied that they were ‘on my way in’ to the scene of the attack at 14.19. At 14.26, an account associated with immigrant protests tweeted a video from the scene and replied to that initial tweet saying a five-year-old child had been killed.

The first mentions of the attack spread in Telegram groups and began at 14.29, with a post from a prominent anti-migrant content producer, whose post was shared with other white supremacist Telegram groups. At 14.40, a four-minute video was posted from the bottom of Parnell Sq by a prominent Telegram conspiracy theorist showing the number of people begin to swell at the police cordon. At 15.37, a video was posted to Twitter/X showing journalists being harassed and threatened for ‘supporting migrants,’ with some saying ‘we are not going to be intimidated by anyone.’ These were the first signals viewed in real-time suggesting a significantly volatile situation on the ground.

The first reference to an ‘Algerian’ was made at 16.15 in a white supremacist Telegram chat. This post was screen grabbed and shared around social media
By 16.47, the first blockade of the Luas occurred at the top of O’Connell Street, close to the police cordon. At 16.57, the leader of Ireland First, a known hate group, posted a video about the incident, saying ‘we are at war’ and blaming the attack on immigration. At 17.30, Gript Media posted a tweet saying the nationality of the man accused was Algerian. 

We started seeing calls originating from significant and prominent actors within anti-migrant movements in Ireland promoting a mobilisation of men to meet at the Spire at 19.00. Some calls asked that groups of men begin to walk around the city centre, akin to vigilante groups (See here). Other calls originated from individuals involved in violent anti-migrant mobilisations earlier this year, which they have since deleted. 

An additional call shared incorrectly listed an address as being the residence of Leo Varadkar and that it should be targeted. The majority of messages, however, were calling for people to come to the Spire without providing any other further information. 

Much of the above gave Hope and Courage Collective  a clear sense that this was an increasingly dangerous situation with real threat to public safety. This has also been corroborated in the many conversations we have had since, and indeed was documented at the time here.

A live review of the situation during the initial scenes from around 17.00 onwards showed some of the individuals involved were previously connected with anti-migrant demonstrations. There were signs reading ‘Irish lives matter,’ which is recognisable from previous mobilisations. Online hate content producers and anti-migrant activists put out additional callouts on Telegram, Facebook and Twitter/X, encouraging people to mobilise quickly. 

Phrases like ‘take the country back,’ ‘we are at war,’ and ‘enough is enough,’ all contributed to heightening tensions and riled up those who were encouraged to come into town. In the initial skirmishes with public order police at the bottom of Parnell Square, racist chanting was audible. It’s our sense that those present were a combination of people living in and around the local area, but some were motivated to travel in by early callouts across social platforms.

Police lines were broken around 18.00, with an hour-long livestream on Facebook clearly showing that from 18.30 onwards, a significant riot situation was playing out with police not in control of several streets in the north inner city close to Parnell Square. Within one minute of the livestream starting, we could hear men calling for an emergency accommodation centre to be attacked. While the situation was not one of top-down control and being led by one person, it was clear groups of men within this crowd were intent on racially motivated violence. Later in the video, after windows in the emergency accommodation centre were broken, many of the group moved up Parnell Street back up towards the Parnell Monument. 

Along Parnell street, Garda cars were attacked and some conversation was heard threatening a Garda in a police van to get out as the van was going to be set alight. Around 18.45, the crowd began to move up towards the Spire, with people referencing the 19.00 meeting. As the crowd moved, you could hear people shouting ‘don’t be attacking innocent people, leave the innocent,’ which we now know was most likely in reference to racially motivated attacks on people on the street. The livestream then saw a move of the crowd up toward O’Connell Bridge, where both a Garda car and Dublin Bus were set alight. In this chaos we can hear men calling on phones for others to come into the city. More concerning were attempts to convince the assembled crowd by some people there to march from O’Connell bridge to East Wall, because in their words “Darren, get everyone to spread the word. Go down to the East Wall, there are no foreigners here (sic), go down to the hotel. Spread the word. Lads. Lads.”

Much of what was happening over this time was live streamed on Twitter, TikTok, Facebook etc, creating a magnet effect, which resulted in the drawing in of a much wider range of particularly young men seeking to engage in street conflict, riots and looting. These individuals are possibly not directly in the networks of far-right or hate influencers, but are in local networks. From about 19.30 pm onwards, the situation became much more dispersed, fluid and focused on looting. Many people have reported being trapped in places of work, shops and cafes. Within the space of an hour or so from 17.00, it was very clear that the police had lost control of the situation entirely and withdrew from many streets as mass looting spread. 

We have received multiple reports of racist abuse and anti-immigrant sentiment being part of this wider riot. The nature of the riots themselves meant that this became a non-directed series of events and incidents across a much wider part of the city centre. Given the evidence we have seen, it is clear that the initial few hours of the mobilisation was shaped by racism and violence, as demonstrated by the incidents above. 

The mobilisation of fascist feelings, directed towards migrant communities, and in particular those seeking asylum and state protection, that we and many others have long warned about, were clearly manifested on the evening of the 23rd. This core group was later joined by a much younger cohort seemingly more motivated by the spectacle of the riot than street violence. We are also aware that in some instances young people were directed to take part in looting as a way of resolving drug debts.

The purpose behind intelligence-led policing is to read signals and make assessments around threats and risks that inform operational decisions. Many people, including journalists on the ground, were clear that the signals almost immediately after the attack strongly suggested that anger at the scene could become a public order incident. At 17.45, we advised Store Street Garda Station that what was unfolding was a serious risk to people’s lives and physical safety.

From a wider perspective, looking not just at the events of November 23rd, but more broadly, across all metrics, both online and offline, we have seen an increase in violent rhetoric towards racialised minority communities in the last 18 months. The average user on social media can see orchestrated attempts by bigots to seize upon any tragedy to amplify their own agenda of hate and division. We saw it in the attacks on a temporary campsite on Sandwith Street earlier this year. We’ve seen this in the immediate aftermath of violent attacks and murders where there is potential to link it to immigration or non-Christian religions. We’ve seen this in the recent sentencing of someone found guilty of murder. We see this in the fabrication and false claims of sexual violence, all aimed at driving division in our society and hatred and violence towards migrants.

There is a sense that the Garda policy of ‘light touch’ when dealing with incitement to hatred against migrants and against other minority communities has demonstrably failed. There is ample evidence of incitement to hatred by a small core of ideologically committed far right actors, in many cases over several years. There are hundreds of hours of video, thousands of social media posts and tens of thousands of newspapers documenting incitement, yet no substantive actions.The reason for legislation around the prohibition of incitement to violence is to stop those intent on encouraging or enacting violence. Lack of action sends a clear green light that this incitement can continue. The inevitable outcome is violence in libraries and bookshops, the attacks and intimidation of people seeking state protection in Clondalkin, the setting fire of temporary campsites and accommodation centres and attacks on migrants we have seen this year and what was seen yesterday in the capital city.

Aside from the issue of street violence on the 23rd of November  in Dublin city centre, there are several other situations that are important to note.

Fermoy: There has been a renewed effort to mobilise against further accommodation for people seeking protection in the town. There has been a strong local response to those mobilisations and putting pressure on local councillors to distance themselves. 

Leitrim – Dromahair Hotel: Groups of men assembled outside over the weekend, with reports of localised temporary car checks. A new Facebook page called ‘Dromahair Welcomes You’ has been set up in solidarity.

Clondalkin: Ongoing issue of intimidation of people coming and going from the SIAC site.

Rosslare and Killarney: Both have seen mobilisations supported by and led by local reps opposing additional accommodation centres.

Northwest Donegal: Specific violence directed towards people seeking state protection is currently under police investigation. Local solidarity and support is driven by community groups on the ground.

Coole, Westmeath: Mobilisations against people seeking asylum have been occurring in the village since mid-October. Facebook group shows engagement from people involved in anti-migrant organising elsewhere.