Dozens arrested after far-right mob riots in Dublin over stabbing blamed on immigration

Police in Dublin say they have arrested more than 30 people after a night of rioting and looting that saw shops and public transport infrastructure smashed and set on fire by far-right racist gangs.

The violence broke out in the Irish capital on Thursday evening after a knife attack in the city centre which left a 5-year-old girl and a school care assistant in critical condition. The police have arrested a suspect. 

Online far-right groups and activists posted under hashtags such as "Ireland is Full" and "Ireland for the Irish", variously rounding on immigrants, asylum seekers and non-white people in general as they justified the violence as a proportionate response to the stabbing – while also blaming "non-Irish" people for looting shops.

According to Justice Minister Helen McEntee, around 200 people "wreaked havoc across the city".

As Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned that further protests are being organised online, Ireland's police commissioner Drew Harris told journalists that a "hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology" was behind the violence. 

In a press conference on Friday morning, Harris defended the speed of the police response despite a build-up of anti-immigrant tensions on social media in advance of the violence and pointed to the large element of the mob that simply looted shops, in particular sportswear retailers.

"It has to be said that the crowds of those at first protesting, filled with hate directed towards members of An Garda Síochána (the police), were then supplemented with those who were only intent upon crime, disorder and the looting of premises."

However, he also conveyed the seriousness of the far-right element on display last night, which he said had never exploded in public like this before.