UK, CA, AU, DZ issue travel warnings for Dublin following anti-immigrant riots

Riots broke out in the streets of Dublin this week following a knife attack at a preschool on a woman and 3 children that seriously injured a 5-year-old girl.

Bystanders subdued the attacker, a man of Algerian heritage, who was later determined to have been an Irish citizen and resident for 20 years.

But immediately following the attack, the rumor that the assailant was an Algerian national currently in Ireland seeking asylum spread rapidly, and pent-up dissatisfaction with the country's immigration policies boiled overt into violence that involved burning, looting of shops, setting off of fireworks and attacks on police with bottles and bricks. Police arrested 34 people.

20% of the population of Ireland today are immigrants.

Earlier this month following a trial that was given widespread publicity in the country, a Slovak immigrant was convicted of stabbing and strangling to death a 23-year-old teacher in County Offaly in 2022.

Following the riots, Sinn Fein President Mary-Lou McDonald called for the removal of Minister for Justice Helen McEntee. But Taoisearch Leo Varadkar said in a statement that he has full confidence in Minister McEntee, and there will be a crackdown on "racist extremists."

Will this terrible series of events hurt Irish tourism in next month's Holiday Season or in summer 2024? Watch this space.