Dublin stabbings – latest: Workers told to stay away as riots break out across city

Leo Varadkar hailed those of multiple nationalities who intervened to stop the stabbing attack as it unfolded, describing them as “real Irish heroes”.

“Yesterday evening, some people decided that the best way to respond to this terrible attack was to take to the streets of Dublin and try to terrify, intimidate, loot and destroy,” the Irish prime minister told a press conference earlier.

“Their first reaction to a five-year-old child being stabbed was to burn our city, attack its businesses and assault our gardai.

“As a result of their actions, buses and trams were set on fire, innocent passers-by were intimidated and pregnant women in Rotunda Hospital were made to feel unsafe and in danger. These people claim to be defending Irish citizens, yet they put in danger the newest and most vulnerable and most innocent people.

“Those involved brought shame on Dublin, brought shame on Ireland and brought shame on their families and themselves. These criminals did not do what they did because they love Ireland. They did not do what they did because they wanted to protect Irish people. They did not do it out of any sense of patriotism, however warped. They did so because they’re filled with hate, they love violence, they love chaos and they love causing pain to others.”

Leo Varadkar has said being Irish is about “being more than beating your chest” as he condemned those involved in last night’s violence.

“Being Irish means more than saluting the tricolour, beating your chest and pointing to where you were born,” he said at a press conference earlier.

“It means living up to the ideals represented by our flag. It means being true to our own history and it means acting with compassion for others.

“Today I call on us all to remember who we really are because we’re better than this and it’s time we came together and reminded others who claim to speak for us about what our country really stand for.”

Irish police say they are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the stabbings in Dublin city centre yesterday in which multiple people were injured.

The scene of the incident at Parnell Square East remains cordoned off and the road is closed to traffic and diversions are in place.

The five-year-old girl who was seriously injured during the incident remains in a critical condition in CHI Temple Street.

Another girl, aged 6, continues to receive medical treatment for less serious injuries in CHI Crumlin.

The boy, aged 5, was discharged from CHI Crumlin yesterday evening.

The adult female, aged in her 30s, remains in a serious condition in the Mater Hospital.

The adult male, aged in his 50s, also remains in a serious condition in a hospital in the Dublin region.

A total of 32 people have been charged so far in connection with riots last night in Dublin, Irish police have said.

Some 250 public order officers supported 400 police in responding to violence that rocked the city centre.

In an update on Friday morning,  the Garda (Irish police) also said:

• Seven (7) vehicles were damaged by fire including three (3) buses, three (3) Garda patrol cars and one (1) Luas tram.
• Eight (8) other Garda vehicles were extensively damaged .
• Thirteen (13) properties were attacked and substantially damaged.
• A number of members of An Garda Síochána were injured; one (1) seriously injured member, who is currently receiving treatment in hospital

The huge destruction and rioting in Dublin “could not have been anticipated”, Ireland’s police chief has said, Lucy Neeson reports.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris spoke at a press conference on Friday morning (24 November) after police officers were injured, shops were looted and vehicles set alight during riots the previous evening.

The riots followed a stabbing in Parnell Square in which three children and their teacher were injured.

A five-year-old girl is in critical condition, a six-year-old girl sustained head injuries and the teacher, a woman, is seriously ill.

A boy aged five has minor wounds and has been discharged from hospital.

Ireland’s prime minister pledged to modernise laws against hatred in the coming weeks after 34 people were arrested for rioting in Dublin on Thursday night.

“We will pass new laws in the coming weeks to enable the Gardai (police) to make better use of the CCTV evidence they collected yesterday, and also we will modernise our laws against incitement to hatred and hatred in general,” Leo Varadkar told a news conference on Friday.

“I think it’s now very obvious to anyone who might have doubted us that our incitement to hatred legislation is just not up to date. It’s not up to date for the social media age. And we need that legislation through within a matter of weeks.”

Varadkar also pays tribute to the police for their efforts during last night’s riots, saying he has full confidence in the Garda leadership.

He said he is working closely with the justice ministers to bring those responsible for the rioting to justice.

He tells reporters that around 500 people were involved in the riot and that 400 officers were dispatched to quell the violence.

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar is addressing the stabbings and riots in a press conference this morning in Dublin.

He says those who carried out the violence across the city last night had brought “shame” on Ireland.

“This is not who we are and not who we will ever be,” he adds.

He said their first reaction to the stabbings was to “burn out city”. “They do not do it out of any sense of patriotism, however warped”, he adds, saying that the violence stemmed instead from “hate”.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister is “very, very concerned” by the violence that erupted in Dublin last night.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the British-Irish Council at Dublin Castle, Michael Martin said: “It is very, very challenging and traumatic for them and their families and indeed for all the school children who would have witnessed the incident and indeed for their parents and we cannot lose sight of the horror of that attack and its impact and we’ll be working to support all those affected by that today and in the days ahead.

Referring to the rioting, Mr Martin acknowledged people are “obviously very, very concerned” about “the lawlessness and the rioting that occurred last evening in our city”.

He also paid tribute to the police and all emergency workers who he described as having put themselves in harm’s way “to deal with the actions of a small minority in our society”.

One of Ireland’s most prominent celebrities, the former UFC champion Conor McGregor, has been vocal about the stabbing incident and the violence that unfolded as a consequence.

Hours before the riot, McGregor called for ‘war’ after complaining about non-Irish people being allowed to vote in Irish elections. He tweeted: “US allows non residents to vote?

Visitors can vote? I can fly in now and register a vote in the United States elections? Surely not. However, Ireland’s current government is proposing this. A disgrace! A shame! Hang their heads in shame! The Working man is the real hero! Ireland, we are at war.

“Do not let any irish property be took over unannounced. Evaporate said property. It’s a war.”