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This afternoon, an Algerian man who'd been resident in Ireland for years approached a crèche in the Dublin city centre and stabbed a teacher and several children, all of whom have been hospitalised. A man intervened and tackled him to the ground (I've heard unconfirmed reports that he was Brazilian, making this something of a wash from an anti-immigration perspective).
In a remarkable display of striking while the iron is hot, an anti-immigrant group organised a protest outside the Dáil (lower house of parliament) later this afternoon. Protesters clashed with police officers at the scene of the crime. Before long it escalated into a full-scale riot, the likes of which I've never seen before in Dublin. A bus was set on fire, as was at least one police car and a Luas (the light rail system serving Dublin). A Holiday Inn was set on fire. Shops have been smashed up and looted. I had to get a taxi home as the public transport has been suspended. Walking through the streets is eerie, they're largely empty aside from riot cops carrying riot shields very forcefully redirecting me. Helicopters are still circling overhead.
My gut feeling is that this is primarily the work of opportunistic scumbags rioting for the fun of it, for which a fairly small protest which got out of hand was merely the catalyst. On the other hand, I have heard a lot about the alleged "rise of the far right" in Ireland over the course of the last few years, and the fact that it happened so soon after Geert Wilders' election is certainly odd timing.
EDIT: See also @Tollund_Man4's more detailed write-up in the transnational thread.
the holiday inn apparently housed immigrants?
seems interesting what Irish people are saying. for example UFC Champ Conor McGregor tweeting to the effect of “do something immediately”, and more PC ones saying this is alt-right
Is there a reason we haven’t seen this kind of reaction in UK or France?
Not the first migrant accommodation to burn in Ireland. Seems to be a safety hazard to house refugees in such flammable accommodation.
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One big distinguishing factor is that Ireland’s immigration experience is much more recent.
It’s hard to find a red line to rally around when your country’s first experience of mass Muslim migration happened in your grandparents’ days and when you’ve already learned to avoid the ghettos. Anything short of a drastic acceleration is just boiling the frog.
Ireland has never had ethnic ghettos, Dublin youth excepted we’re not used to the violence that’s accepted as part and parcel of normal city life, a ratio of 1800 Irish to 700 MENA males isn’t something Irish towns are used to.
I’m doubtful that this was a terrorist attack, but yesterday it was unclear whether Ireland had just experienced it’s first ever Islamic terrorist attack. Even though Ireland does have a high proportion of foreign nationals it’s nearly all working class Eastern Europeans or middle class Western Europeans who don’t cause much trouble, having areas suddenly gain a large population of young African and Muslim males is jarring and easy to rally around (I know this guy is much older but tension has been building for a while). All this when house and rental prices are through the roof.
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Median age in France is 42, median age in Ireland is 38.
That’s not that big of a difference, certainly not enough to explain the difference in reactions.
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There's a recent history of grassroots anti-government organization in Ireland, what with "The Troubles" and all. Also a stronger sense of tribe. That was the whole point of the Irish independence movement after all.
The UK is much more authoritarian and has a long history of sicking the police on people who oppose immigration from it's colonies, that's been expanded to broader immigration.
France likes to protest against it's government, but it's more formally organized with a lot of union involvement. There isn't any blue collar community organizing that can lead to a rapid response like this.
Macron isn't shy about cracking down on protesters in a hard violent fashion. As seen in the yellow vest protests a few years ago.
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You might differentiate between reactions to governments gleefully and joyously importing millions of migrants (Canada, Ireland) and governments that claim multiculturalism is flawed and borders need to be Under Control and numbers Will Come Down but then do nothing to make it so (UK, France).
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Never underestimate a Celt.
France and UK have lots of Celts...
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