Protesters attack police and set fire to Dublin asylum seekers’ accommodation | World news

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris described the violence as “reprehensible” after a crowd gathered outside a site intended to house asylum seekers and began attacking police officers.

Protesters in Dublin have attacked police officers and set fire to vehicles on a site intended to house asylum seekers.

Violence broke out on Monday as preparations were being made to convert a disused paint factory into accommodation.

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris described the violence as “reprehensible” and said: “No person has the right to set fire to cars, damage property or attack members” of the security and emergency services.

“These actions are criminal and aim to sow fear and division.”

Protesters gathered in the morning, some with their faces covered, and several fires were set. Videos and images posted on social media on Monday showed a burning excavator.

The violence escalated as bricks and fireworks were thrown at officers and garbage cans and mattresses were set on fire.

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Construction workers who were supposed to begin renovating the site were removed from the construction site.

“A security guard was attacked for simply doing his job,” Harris said. “I’m thinking of him and his family and hope he recovers quickly.”

Police tried to disperse a crowd near a makeshift anti-immigration camp using pepper spray.

Fifteen people, thirteen men and two women, appeared before the Criminal Court in an overnight session on Monday and were charged with various violations of public order.

The protest camp was set up several months ago to prevent workers from carrying out renovation work on the site; people were there around the clock.

A man with a megaphone told the crowd that the government was going to “change the constitution.”

He claimed that ministers were “amending the 39th Amendment to the Constitution to take away our private property.”

“They will ask you if you have a single room and force you to put them there,” he said.