LONDON: Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Friday that demonstrators who battled police and looted shops in Dublin after a school knife attack were motivated by “hate” and brought “shame on the country.
Thursday night’s violence in Dublin — which erupted after 3 children were injured in the stabbings — was of a level not seen in decades, according to police, who apprehended 34 people.
Varadkar told reporters that those involved brought shame on Dublin, on Ireland, on their families and themselves.
He said the protesters did not do what they did because they wanted to protect people. They did not do it out of any sense of patriotism, however warped.
The PM added that they did so because they are filled with hate. They love violence and chaos and they like causing pain to others.
Unrest in Ireland
The unrest came after a 5-year-old girl sustained serious wounds in a suspected stabbing in Parnell Square East, north central Dublin.
Two other minors and two adults — a woman and the suspected perpetrator of the attack — were shifted to hospital after the incident at around 1:30 pm (1330 GMT).
