San Francisco Frontiers - Police out in force in Dublin after night of riots

Police made sporadic arrests after darkness fell on Friday as youths began to congregate on O'Connell Street, one of Dublin's most famous throughfares that was the scene of violence, vehicle fires and looting the day before.

But the mood was generally calm, with Irish police posting on X (formerly Twitter): "We have an enhanced policing plan in place this evening and look forward to seeing shoppers, match goers and all those that will be socialising in the city over the weekend ahead."

Water cannons were on standby, however, should the situation deteriorate, police told AFP.

Prime minister Leo Varadkar said the city's worst violence in decades on Thursday brought "shame" on Ireland.

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

The 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 subsequent 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.

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

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

- 'Chaos' -

As well as the five-year-old, 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 50s, 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 so because they're filled with hate. They love violence. They love chaos, and they love causing pain to others," he added.

He drew a contrast with those who disarmed the attacker, including a Brazilian Deliveroo driver and 17-year-old trainee French chef Alan Loren-Guille.

French President Emmanuel Macron telephoned Loren-Guille "to congratulate him and thank him for this act of bravery that saved lives and made us all proud", his office told AFP.

Varadkar vowed to use the "full resources of the law... to punish those involved in yesterday's grotesque events".

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

Ireland will also "modernise" laws regarding hate and incitement, with world-renowned cage fighter Conor McGregor likely to come under the spotlight.

The Dublin native has recently sent a series of posts on X criticising the government's immigration policy, writing to his 10 million followers: "Ireland, we are at war."

- 'Evil' -

A few bunches of flowers and a visible police presence on Friday marked the school scene where the stabbings occurred, and feelings were still running high.

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

Australian Jamie McGlue, who has lived in Dublin for four years, criticised the government's immigration policy, telling AFP it "has not been fair to the Irish people".

"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 way to make progress," said local Robbie Hammond, 28. "You're destroying the place, the city you're supposed to be fighting for."

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.

Harris said 34 people were arrested. Thirteen shops were significantly damaged or looted.

G.Allen--SFF