Gardaí in Killarney, Co Kerry, were pelted with bottles and missiles in one of a number of late night public order incidents co-inciding with a major motor rally in the town. Anne Lucey reports.
More than 90,000 people converged on the town at the weekend for the 25th Ordnance Survey Ireland Rally of the Lakes which takes in mountain and lake stages in Killarney, west Cork and south Kerry.
The rally has a UK, European as well as Irish following and with its dramatic stages is one of the most highly regarded rallies in Europe. The numbers this year were higher than expected.
The town was "thronged" on Saturday night/Sunday morning with large crowds failing to get into nightclubs on the streets.
There were 30 arrests, the majority arising out of public order offences. There were minor assaults and two of the arrests were for drunken driving.
The gardaí were without their regular Garda helicopter and mounted unit back-up because of security concerns in Dublin for the Day of Welcomes.
While traffic and the rally stages ran efficiently, the public order problem arose late into the night as crowds grew.
Disturbances at the junction of Main Street and Plunkett Street broke out at 1.30 a.m. when gardaí tried to make an arrest. The crowd turned hostile and began throwing missiles and bottles at the gardaí. Reinforcements were called and the situation was brought under control quickly. There were six arrests arising from the incident.