Gardaí have charged two men in relation to an alleged assault on two members of the force on Ballyfermot Road in the early hours of Monday. The men, one in his 50s and the other in his 30s, are due to appear before the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin Tuesday morning. Gardaí said today that investigations are ongoing.
Footage of the alleged assault, which was condemned yesterday by the Taoiseach as “reprehensible” and “brutal” was filmed and posted to social media.
Both the injured gardaí were taken to St James’s Hospital before being discharged later in the day.
Two men, aged in their 50s and 30s, and a woman (50s) were arrested at the scene. A fourth person, a man in his 40s, was detained in a follow-up operation on Monday. The woman in her 50s has been released and is due to appear in court at a later date.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the episode was “unacceptable”. The Garda Representative Association (GRA) said it was part of a pattern of increasingly violent incidents its members were being called in to deal with, adding that apparently low-level incidents were now often turning very violent.
The recording of the incident, a video of which has since been widely shared on social media, was described by the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) as “dangerous and dehumanising”.
The attack occurred at about 12.45am on Ballyfermot Road after the two gardaí had gone to a pub to respond to reports of a public order disturbance. It appears a number of people had been ejected from the pub by staff and were acting in an abusive and threatening manner.
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