Anti-Immigrant Riots Break Out in Ireland After Dublin Stabbings

Anti-immigrant riots hit Dublin Thursday evening after a man rumored to be a foreign national stabbed several young children near an elementary school in the city.

The Stabbing: Local police, called Garda, took the man into custody after a Brazilian-born delivery driver reportedly stopped him. A 5-year-old and a teacher were left in serious condition. The attacker, rumored to be an Algerian foreign national, is “a naturalised Irish citizen who has been in the State for 20 years,” according to The Irish Times (Center bias), a Dublin-based newspaper.

The Riots: Later that day, clashes erupted between riot police and people, some of whom held “Irish Lives Matter” signs and chanted, “Get them out.” Four buses and a tram were destroyed, some shops were looted, and some police vehicles were damaged. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris attributed the violent clashes to “a complete lunatic hooligan faction” driven by “far-right ideology” and “radicalized through social media.”

How the Media Covered It: Some coverage echoed partisan divides on global migration; while the Daily Beast (Left bias) praised the “hero immigrant” who stopped the stabbings, Fox News (Right bias) noted “an unprecedented spike in illegal migrants and asylum seekers” who had been “given welfare.” Fox also noted “high-profile serious crimes” committed by foreign nationals and recent “peaceful protests” raising “safety concerns” about migrants. A Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) article appeared to misunderstand Harris’ quote as blaming “far-right ideology” for the stabbings, not the riots. While almost all coverage called the clashes “riots,” some left-rated sources also used terms like “violent protests” in headlines.