Anti-immigration riots gripped the Irish capital for a second consecutive night on Wednesday, leaving two police officers hospitalised and 24 people arrested as protestors clashed with members of An Garda Síochána.
Footage shared online showed scenes of rioters confronting police, with a Garda van set ablaze.
Stones, bricks, and fireworks were hurled at officers, leaving one garda with a head injury from a bottle and another with an arm wound.
The violence erupted outside an accommodation center for international protection applicants in suburban west Dublin.
Authorities said the unrest followed an initially peaceful demonstration over the alleged sexual assault of a young girl in the area early Monday morning.
A 26-year-old man in Dublin was charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl who was under the care of the Irish Child and Family Agency, Tusla.
The alleged assault took place in the early hours of Monday morning at Garter Lane, Saggart, Co Dublin.
He has been charged under Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990, as amended by Section 37 of the Sex Offenders Act 2001.
According to a Garda statement, the disorder was largely carried out by young adult men and teenagers.
Of the 24 arrests made on Wednesday, 17 adults have been charged with public order offences and are scheduled to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin on Thursday.
Police confirmed that the violence was premeditated and coordinated online.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly condemned the violence, calling it “totally unacceptable” and stressing that such actions could not be described as peaceful protest.
“Peaceful protest does not involve throwing bricks and bottles, burning police vehicles, or people arming themselves with weapons,” he said, adding that there would be a “robust response again to any further disorder.”
The hotel complex at the center of the unrest houses families, including school children, under the Irish government’s international protection programme for asylum seekers.
The area remained sealed off on Wednesday, with a heavy police presence and truckloads of steel barriers and fencing brought in as part of the ongoing Garda operation.
Riots and protests of this nature have become increasingly frequent in Dublin, mirroring anti-immigrant unrest seen elsewhere in Europe.
Similar demonstrations erupted across the UK in summer after an asylum seeker housed at a hotel in Essex was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Two years ago, Dublin’s city center saw violent clashes, vehicle burnings, and looting during another wave of protests.
In August, several violent incidents targeting Indians in Ireland were reported. A man who had arrived in Ireland from India in July on a critical skills visa was beaten, stabbed, robbed, and partially stripped by a gang in Tallaght, Co Dublin, an attack that was filmed and circulated online.
In another case, an Indian nurse in Co Waterford said her six-year-old Irish-born daughter was assaulted and called a “dirty Indian” while playing near their home.
India had issued an advisory in August urging Indian nationals in Ireland to take “reasonable precautions” for their personal safety and to avoid deserted areas, particularly during late hours.