Leader: Mayhem on the streets of our capital
The felon who tried to break into this shop had no success - the toughened glass prevented it.
We are used to seeing images beamed into our homes of riots and protests and looters taking advantage of mayhem created on the streets. Yes, we are used to those images, but they are always from other parts of the world, not on our own doorstep.
The shocking attack in Parnell Square on innocent children and their carer outside a school left us all reeling and asking why. What was to follow overshadowed that appalling incident and left us wondering what we are becoming in this country.
Rioting and damage in Dublin city centre, rarely seen, took us all by surprise. It was orchestrated by those looking for any excuse to take to the streets with an anti-immigrant agenda and inflamed by those who just wanted to cause trouble.
What we witnessed were injuries, some of them serious, to gardaí, who were attacked, and an absolutely terrifying night for many working in or visiting the city centre and millions of euro in damage to busses, trams, Garda vehicles and businesses.
The events on Thursday night have left many people in fear and have tarnished the image of this country in the eyes of visitors.
We don’t yet know what lead to the attack outside the school, but what we do know is that it represents every parent’s worst nightmare and will make us question are we safe on the city’s streets.
Much has been written and said over the last few days about the protests with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Justice Minister Helen McEntee in the firing line for criticism.
Commissioner Harris stressed that there was no way to have anticipated the scale of what happened. Maybe he was right, but in light of what has happened a serious re-examination needs to take place on the monitoring of social media channels by the authorities and the lessons that can be learned for future protests.
There is no doubt that the situation escalated quickly. Plenty of action needs to be taken to make people feel safe living, working and visiting the city and chief among them is more gardaí on the streets, permanently.
Talk of providing more resources won’t cut it. People want answers and want results.
