According to the newspaper The Irish Times, about a thousand demonstrators are on the move in Saggart, which is near Dublin. RTÉ assumes around 2,000 demonstrators. Riot police try to keep people away from the hotel entrance. Officers would use pepper spray or tear gas and deploy a water cannon, and demonstrators would throw stones and bottles in addition to fireworks.
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan reacted indignantly to the disturbances. He said, according to RTÉ, that attacks on police will not be tolerated. “Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. Violence is not. There is no excuse for the scenes we saw tonight.”
A 10-year-old girl was allegedly sexually abused in the vicinity of the hotel. The Irish Times reports that the suspect is an asylum seeker who had to leave the country after his asylum application was rejected. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin previously called the events “serious and very, very worrying.”