Tents housing 15 asylum seekers were reportedly attacked with knives and pipes on the Dublin Quays on Tuesday night after they were moved on from a makeshift campsite in a north Dublin residential area.
The tents and belongings of some of the international protection applicants camping on City Quay were reportedly thrown into the river Liffey after a group of armed men approached them at 11.30pm.
Volunteers, who were in contact with the men, told The Irish Times how tents were slashed and then thrown in the water, while the men ran for safety to Pearse Street Garda station. There were no reports of injuries.
“They were in shock, traumatised,” said one local man who assisted the group following the attack and preferred not to give his name. “One man had his documentation thrown in the river.”
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The 15 men, who are Palestinian and Somali, reportedly made statements at Pearse Street Garda station.
Volunteer groups said they were unable to secure emergency State-provided accommodation for the night.
The asylum seekers eventually found a place to stay for the night after a Dublin 7 business owner opened up their premises so the men could sleep on the floor.
The manager said they accommodated the men because of genuine fears for their safety. “This is a direct consequence of what’s happened in Coolock,” they said, on condition of anonymity. “People now feel emboldened to attack refugees.”
The manager’s comments refer to violent protests by anti-immigration activists at a disused former paint factory, earmarked to house international protection applicants, on the Malahide Road in Coolock earlier this week.
The men returned to Pearse Street Garda station on Wednesday morning to have their documentation photographed so they can be referred to the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) for housing referrals.
The Garda confirmed it had responded to “a report of criminal damage” on City Quay in the early hours of Wednesday morning and that “investigations are ongoing”.
In a statement, a spokeswoman said An Garda Síochána “has no statutory responsibility for the provision of accommodation to any person.”
Members of An Garda Síochána “regularly engage with people sleeping rough, for whatever reason, carrying out welfare checks”, she said.
“An Garda Síochána continues to support relevant statutory agencies and NGOs in supporting people sleeping rough. An Garda Síochána also has an obligation to respond to complaints being received about encampments.”
A Department of Integration spokeswoman said they were “prioritising people identified in the area of last night’s incident and offers of accommodation will be made to eligible people today”. By 5pm on Wednesday, eight of the fifteen men had received offers.
“Government is making every effort to accommodate asylum seekers against a backdrop of unprecedented demand,” she said. “However, the situation remains challenging, and the Department cannot provide accommodation to all IP applicants at this time.”
International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) arrange “outreach and visits” to asylum seekers who are known to be rough sleeping and offer accommodation places “as they become available”, she said.
[ Group of masked men targets asylum seekers sleeping rough in PhibsboroughOpens in new window ]
Some of the men who had pitched their tents at City Quay were previously camping near the Royal Canal after they were moved on from the Phoenix Park and Charlemont Place in the south inner city last week.
They had been receiving support from members of the local Phibsborough community, who provided food, toilet and shower facilities and who established a round-the-clock rota to stave off anti-immigrant threats.
However, a large group of men, some of them masked, approached the encampment on Monday night shouting abuse and threats. The gang left the area after gardaí and local residents arrived on the scene, according to witnesses.
A number of the asylum-seeking men in Phibsborough were offered temporary accommodation, both privately and at the State-run site in the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, after the incident. However those who remained on site were moved on by gardaí on Tuesday.
Some 2,400 men seeking international protection are now homeless, according to the latest Government statistics.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns described Tuesday’s City Quay attack as “a despicable new low” and said the “coarsening debate around immigration is leading to increased attacks on migrant communities”.
“The Government’s failure to comply with Ireland’s legal obligations to provide accommodation for those seeking International Protection has led to a situation where asylum seekers are putting their safety at risk by being forced to live in tents on our streets. They are not there by choice – they simply have nowhere else to go.”
Social Democrats TD for Dublin Central Gary Gannon called on the “full state apparatus” to join forces to secure accommodation for homeless asylum seekers and to avoid further violence.
The “absence of leadership and accountability” by the State is fuelling the misinformation which is emboldening small groups to attack these makeshift encampments, said Mr Gannon.
“People who are vulnerable, who may not have the language, are being pushed on without information and into residential areas where they are increasingly at risk of attack by groups emboldened by the State’s lack of enforcement.”
Mr Gannon said he was particularly struck by a video from Coolock which shows a woman saying she cannot afford to buy bread or milk to feed her children “because of these people” (asylum seekers).
“Poverty and social exclusion is being weaponised – that level of deprivation fuels this level of anger and exclusion and worries about basic provision of bread and milk is misdirected,” he said.
“The State apparatus needs to come into play here, and I’m not just looking at [Minister for Integration] Roderic O’Gorman here. It’s actually the justice ministry and the department of housing too. There’s a real confluence of crises here, we can’t see any of these issues in isolation.”
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