Three gardaí injured and one man arrested after further unrest following Coolock protests

Hundreds of people gather at the former Crown Paints factory on Malahide Road, earmarked for international protection applicants

Hundreds of people gathered for a protest in Coolock at the former Crown Paints factory site, which has been earmarked to accommodate asylum seekers.

One man was arrested and three members of An Garda Síochána were injured during another night of unrest at a disused factory earmarked for international protection applicants in north Dublin on Friday night.

Another fire broke out at the former Crown Paints factory on Malahide Road, Coolock, after an anti-immigration protest attended by over 500 people.

Gardaí said one man in his 20s was arrested and was brought to a Garda station in Dublin for public order offences.

One of the three injured members of the force was in hospital on Friday night for treatment of facial injuries.

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Gardaí had sealed off Malahide Road for the second time on Friday at about 7.30pm when the fire was noticed at the site. The same lobby area that was damaged by fire on Thursday night was affected, with Dublin Fire Brigade dispatching several units to the scene.

A number of scuffles broke out and members of the Garda public order unit advanced on the crowd, dispersing them with shields and pepper spray.

Earlier, a large group of protesters had marched from the site to nearby Coolock Garda station to submit a letter of complaint about policing in the area over the last week.

The crowd was blocked on Oscar Traynor Road, a short distance from the station, by a line of uniformed gardaí – backed by the public order unit and detectives.

However, several representatives were allowed through the Garda lines to submit the letter of complaint about the policing tactics during street disturbances in the area on Monday and Tuesday.

Protesters at the old Crown Paint plant in Coolock on Friday. Photograph: RollingNews.ie

The Garda helicopter monitored events on the ground while a high visibility Garda presence was maintained in the area.

The fire appeared to have been brought under control quickly and a number of fire tenders were parked on Malahide Road about 200 metres away.

Video of the fire, recorded over a large concrete fence around the site, was shared on social media.

The group that marched to within 100 metres of the Garda station dispersed just after 7pm, with several hundred walking back to the nearby former Crown Paints site to resume a protest there. It was shortly after that time the fire on the site was noticed.

The protest group had gathered at that site from late afternoon after a call was made by the ‘Coolock Says No’ group to protest there from 6pm. Once the crowd had assembled it moved along both carriageways of Malahide Road, blocking it in two directions.

A short rally was then held, with several speakers including new Dublin city councillor Malachy Steenson, Cllr Patrick Quinlan of the National Party and Cllr Glen Moore, also of the National Party.

Earlier, gardaí had carried out searches in the area in a bid to thwart any efforts to conceal projectiles such as petrol bombs in advance of the protest.

Coolock unrest: Fire at Crown Paints building earmarked to house asylum seekersOpens in new window ]

Serious unrest flared at the site on Monday after gardaí moved in just before 4am in a bid to remove a protest camp in place at the entrance since March. A petrol bomb was thrown and an excavator was destroyed by fire.

There followed serious disturbances through the day, with most of those people present eventually dispersing by about 9.30pm. The crowds were charged, or chased, by gardaí who used pepper sprays and shields to clear Malahide Road, which was blocked to vehicles for hours.

‘At the heart of this is poverty’: How Coolock’s pressure-cooker finally explodedOpens in new window ]

Although the unrest was much more brief, and less violent, on Tuesday evening, members of public order unit were again deployed, with members of the smaller crowd engaging in minor skirmishes with gardaí.

Arson is suspected after the first fire started on Thursday night.

Conor Lally

Conor Lally

Conor Lally is Security and Crime Editor of The Irish Times