Gardaí believe violent clashes between two rival factions at a Galway city shopping centre on Sunday, when a car was twice driven into a crowd of people at speed, are linked to a gang fight in the city days earlier.
Members of two rival family groups, from Galway city and county, are suspected of being at the centre of a street fight last Friday afternoon near Eyre Square as well as the larger and more violent incident on Sunday evening in the Galway Shopping Centre car park on the Headford Road.
There are grave concerns in the Garda and locally about the car-park fight, in which golf clubs, iron bars and slash hooks were used as weapons.
A vehicle was driven at speed into a crowd of people in the car park before the driver turned around and then drove at a group for a second time. The driver then left the car park in the badly damaged vehicle, with gardaí arriving in unmarked cars around the same time.
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A man and a woman hit by the car, one of whom had been thrown into the air, were taken to hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries. Two other men also needed treatment for injuries arising from the violence.
The clashes in the car park were captured by bystanders and videos of the violence have been widely shared on social media. Gardaí have identified suspects and seized two vehicles for examination as well as an assortment of weapons.
There were four arrests after an incident at around 3pm on Friday at Williamsgate Street and a number of men have been charged. Gardaí arrived as the street fight was under way, but the violence continued and pepper spray was used in an attempt to disperse the groups.
The standing orders were suspended at Monday’s Galway City Council meeting so “unsavoury public order offences” that have recently taken place in the city could be discussed and condemned.
Numerous councillors said they had received messages from concerned citizens about the incidents, with mayor Eddie Hoare saying he had been assured by the city’s Garda Chief Superintendent that a public order unit has been mobilised and is ready to be deployed on the streets if required.
Councillors said people in the city are living in fear because of the violence and that it is not fair on businesses or the community. Cllr Alan Cheevers told the meeting he had received a call from a friend whose son was due to start university in the city but was now considering withdrawing because of safety concerns.
The €10 million fund allocated to Dublin to help fight crime in the city during the summer was also criticised, with the council calling on the Government to do the same for Galway. Cllr Noel Larkin said that “when there’s a problem in Dublin, there seems to be a solution very quickly, whether it is financial or otherwise”.
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This weekend’s events were not isolated incidents, according to Mr Cheevers and Cllr Colette Connolly.
“I feel the city no longer belongs to me over the years, and certainly more recently,” Ms Connolly added.
The council voted to condemn outright “all acts of violence and anti-social behaviour on the streets of Galway City” and called on the Garda Commissioner to increase resources in the city. A further motion to hold a special council meeting within the next 10 days so that the Garda Chief Superintendent can inform councillors “of his proposals to deal with the recent anti-social behaviour in the city” was also passed.
Cllr Michael Crowe, a former Fianna Fáil mayor of Galway, told The Irish Times that he was very shocked to view the footage of the incident in the shopping centre car park on Sunday.
“It’s extremely worrying for the people and the businesses of Galway. The level of violence is unprecedented in Galway city and hopefully the gardaí get on top of it quickly,” he said.
