San Francisco Frontiers - Dublin riot motivated by hate: Irish PM

Police blamed a "complete lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology" for the trouble.

Thursday night's unrest came after three children were wounded in a stabbing near the centre of the Irish capital. A five-year-old girl was left in a critical condition in hospital.

The violence -- which resulted in dozens of arrests -- started when a group broke through a police cordon around the scene of the attack in Parnell Square East.

Hundreds of rioters set buses and trams alight and looted shops in one of Dublin's most famous throughfares, O'Connell Street.

"Those involved brought shame on Dublin, brought shame on Ireland and brought shame on their families and themselves," a visibly angry Varadkar told reporters, describing the vandals as "criminals".

He later said the damage done to the Irish capital's public infrastructure could cost tens of millions of euros (dollars).

- 'Chaos' -

The five-year-old girl sustained serious injuries in the stabbing incident, which took place at around 1:30 pm (1330 GMT) on Thursday.

Two other children and two adults -- a woman and the suspected perpetrator of the attack -- were taken to hospital with lesser injuries.

Rumours on social media about the nationality of the assailant, who police only described as a man in his fifties, helped fuel the ensuing unrest.

"They (the rioters) did not do what they did because they wanted to protect Irish people," Varadkar said.

"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," he added.

The government would use the "full resources of the law... to punish those involved in yesterday's grotesque events", Varadkar said.

New laws would be passed in the coming weeks to enable police "to make better use of" CCTV evidence, he said.

Ireland would also "modernise" laws regarding hate and incitement.

- 'Extraordinary' -

A few bunches of flowers and a visible police presence on Friday marked the school scene where the stabbings occurred.

On O'Connell Street, workers were busy fixing overhead tram power lines damaged in Thursday night's disorder, when a tram and other vehicles were set ablaze.

And feelings were still running high.

"Evil hit this community yesterday. He deserves to rot in prison," Catriona, 41, told AFP of the perpetrator.

"And I can't believe what happened in town here yesterday. Buses being burned, trams being burned, police cars. And what does the government do? Nothing. Nothing."

Australian Jamie McGlue, who has lived in Dublin for four years, also criticised the government.

Its immigration policy "has not been fair to the Irish people", the 32-year-old told AFP.

"There's a lot of anger and the government is pretending it's just far-right. But there's legitimate grievances and that is fuelling these crazy people to take advantage," he added.

Others were more critical of the rioters.

"It's not the right way," said local Robbie Hammond, 28. "It's not the way to make progress... You're destroying the place, the city you're supposed to be fighting for."

- 'Mob' -

Police Commissioner Drew Harris told a press conference that several of the 400 responding officers were injured, one of them seriously, when projectiles were thrown at them.

"What we saw last night was an extraordinary outbreak of violence," Harris said.

"These are scenes that we have not seen in decades."

Harris said 34 people were arrested after the "huge destruction" caused by the "riotous mob". Thirteen shops were significantly damaged or looted.

Nearly all those detained were due to appear in court on Friday to face various charges.

A police cordon was set up around the Irish parliament building, Leinster House, late on Thursday, amid concerns that the violence could spread.

Harris said calm was restored in the city shortly after midnight.

C.Williams--SFF