ダブリンで子どもら刺傷、事件への抗議デモが暴動に発展

【ダブリン（アイルランド ）ＡＦＰ＝時事】アイルランドの首都ダブリンで２３日午後１時３０分（日本時間同午後１０時３０分）ごろ、学校近くで子ども３人が刃物を持った男に襲われ、５歳の女児が重傷を負った。成人女性と容疑者も負傷し、全員病院に搬送された。（写真はアイルランド・ダブリンで、学校の外で子どもが刺されてけがをした事件を受け行われたデモで燃やされた車やバス）
　ダブリンでは同日、事件に対する抗議デモが行われたが、一部の参加者が暴徒化し、機動隊と衝突した。リフィー川に架かるオコンネル橋の近くでは車やバスが放火され、主要な繁華街では略奪が起きた。
　警察幹部によると、夜中にはダブリン市内は落ち着きを取り戻した。重傷者は報告されていない。
　メディアや目撃者によると、ナイフを持った男が学校の外にいた５～６歳の子ども３人を刺した。
　通りの反対側にいた女性は公共放送ＲＴＥに対し、現場は「大混乱」に陥ったと話した。
　「何も考えずに道を渡って助けに行った」と語った。「若い男性が（容疑者から）刃物を取り上げた。別の男性は刃物を片付けた」。また数人がかりで容疑者を地面に押さえ付けたという。
　警察は容疑者について５０代の男とのみ発表している。テロとは関係ないが、「要注意人物」として知られていたという。
　ソーシャルメディアでは加害者は移民だといううわさが出回り、これが暴動をあおったとみられている。
　ダブリン警察のドリュー・ハリス署長は、暴動は「極右思想に突き動かされた完全にばかげた派閥」によるものとし、「誤情報」に惑わされないように警告した。
　デモ隊の中には、アイルランド国旗や「アイルランド人の命は大切だ」と書かれたプラカードを持ちながら、移民が多く住む地区を行進した参加者もいた。ある参加者はＡＦＰに「アイルランド人がああしたクズどもに襲われている」と話した。
　アイルランドは慢性的な住宅危機に陥っており、政府の推計では一般市民向けの住宅が数十万戸不足している。
　こうした事情を背景にした不満が難民認定申請者や難民に対する反発につながっている。また極右勢力は「アイルランドは満員」であると主張し、集会やソーシャルメディアで反移民感情をあおっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/11/24-17:40）

Protesters on Thursday fought running battles with police, torched vehicles and looted shops in Dublin, after three young children were injured in a knife attack outside a school.
Police in riot gear stood guard on the streets in the Irish capital as crowds taunted them with chants and set off fireworks.
Near O'Connell Bridge, over the River Liffey, flames rose from a torched car and bus, while crowds broke into stores and looted one of the city's main shopping streets.
The unrest -- the worst in Dublin in years -- came after a five-year-old girl sustained serious injuries in a suspected stabbing in Parnell Square East, north central Dublin.
Two other children and two adults -- a woman and the suspected perpetrator of the attack -- were taken to hospital after the incident around 1:30 pm (1330 GMT).
Rumours on social media about the nationality of the assailant, who police only described as a man in his fifties, helped fuel unrest following the attack.
Police chief Drew Harris blamed a complete lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology and warned against misinformation.
Some protesters carried signs reading Irish Lives Matter and waved Irish flags through a neighbourhood home to a large immigrant community.
One protester told AFP that Irish people are being attacked by these scum.
Ireland has been facing a chronic housing crisis, with the government estimating that there is a deficit of hundreds of thousands of homes for the general population.
Widespread dissatisfaction has fed into a backlash against asylum seekers and refugees, and far-right figures have promoted anti-immigration sentiment at rallies and on social media with claims that Ireland is full.
By late evening, Police Chief Superintendent Patrick McMenamin said calm had been restored and no serious injuries were reported.
It was gratuitous thuggery, he said.
- Backlash -
Justice Minister Helen McEntee said the scenes in the city centre, including attacks on police, cannot and will not be tolerated and promised to take action.
A thuggish and manipulative element must not be allowed to use an appalling tragedy to wreak havoc, she said, calling for calm.
Thursday's incident, which police said was not thought to be terror-related, involved a man armed with a knife stabbing victims outside the school, according to media and eyewitnesses.
Witnesses described how a man had been disarmed, and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said a suspect had been arrested.
Superintendent Liam Geraghty later told media that a young girl aged five years has sustained serious injuries and was receiving emergency medical treatment.
A five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl sustained less serious wounds and the boy had since been discharged, he added.
The woman was being treated for serious injuries in hospital, while the man, said to be in his 50s, was a person of interest for police, revealed Geraghty.
Siobhan Kearney said the scene was absolutely bedlam as she initially watched events unfold from the other side of the street.
Without thinking, I just took across the road to help out, she told Irish national broadcaster RTE.
We got another young man, disarmed (the attacker) with the knife. Another man took the knife and put it away for the (police) to find it.
Kearney added a group of people restrained the suspect on the ground as some of those injured were taken back inside the school.
- 'Horrified' -
Varadkar said he was shocked by the incident.
The emergency services responded very quickly and were on site within minutes. I thank them for that, he said in a statement.
Gardai (Ireland's national police) have detained a suspect and are following a definite line of inquiry.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she was shocked by the brutal attack.
Local lawmaker Aodhan O Riordain of the Irish Labour Party said the incident was disturbing.
Hope injuries are not serious but it will (be) extremely traumatising regardless for all involved, he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the Sinn Fein opposition party, said she was horrified by what had happened.
I want to send my solidarity to the families of those attacked. As a parent, I can only imagine what they are going through right now, she said.
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