Dublin's descent into violent chaos

How Saturday's events unfolded: 12:15pmA crowd of about 200 is at the corner of Parnell and O'Connell streets. The mood is aggressive. About 30 gardaí stand alongside barriers, preventing the protesters from going up Parnell Square. The group, mainly youths and middle-aged men, chant "I, I, IRA."

They hold printed banners that read "RIP Josie Bradley Murdered by Unionists", "RIP May McKenna Murdered by Unionists", "Loyalist Death Squads Backed by the Orange Order and the British State". Some banners carry the letters IRSP - Irish Republican Socialist Party. They wave black flags and Tricolours.

A group of about 100 has also gathered opposite at the foot of the Parnell monument beside fragile fencing around streetworks. Between both groups the passageway for marchers looks narrow. Above them Parnell points west with, beneath him, the lines "No man has a right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation . . ."

12:30pmIt is calm. About 300 Love Ulster marchers line up between the Garden of Remembrance and the Hugh Lane gallery. A Lambeg drumbeat is loud. They carry Union Jack, Ulster and Scottish flags, as well as at least one Orange Order standard.

Some hold a framed plaque headed "Our Murdered Colleagues" with an RUC insignia. Others carry a placard with their dead listed in lengthy columns. Two women hold up separate pictures of "Trevor Kell, Murdered December 2th 2000". Others carry "Kingsmills Massacre" banners. "A lifetime of terrorist genocide by Sinn Féin/IRA" reads another. And a band plays It's a Long Way to Tipperary.

Two youths stand in a doorway holding up a makeshift "Welcome to Your Capital" banner. In another doorway youths unfurl a sheet with "Remember Bloody Sunday". A youth carries a placard "We Love Ulster So Much We Want our Six Counties Back".

12:43pmOnlookers are ushered to the pavement by gardaí. "Ready to go," announces a voice over a Garda walkie-talkie. The sound of firecrackers can be heard from O'Connell Street.

Suddenly there are sirens everywhere. An unmarked Garda car speeds from O'Connell Street towards the Mater hospital with a man in the back. His head is bandaged. Three ambulances head to O'Connell Street, stopping opposite the Gate Theatre. Bangers and roars of fury can he heard from the Parnell monument area.

A Love Ulster band begins The Sash. The crowd on the pavement at Parnell Square swells with youths and middle-aged men. "Bastards", "scumbags" they shout at the marchers. "A fucking disgrace that is . . . fucking loyalist c***s," roars another man. One vociferous middle-aged man is wearing a metal Easter lily on his lapel. They whistle and gesture with single fingers at the marchers. "Orange bastards. Ye won't get by the GPO. No fucking hope."

A young guy says to a female garda: "you're too pretty to be a guard, ya know that . . . should've been a nurse." She turns away.

1:10pmA group block the route the marchers are meant to take with a street-wide banner which reads "Unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter to Break the Connection with England".

Rumours circulate that Charlie Bird and some gardaí are in hospital. Fire engines head to O'Connell Street.

The Love Ulster marchers gather at the steps of the Hugh Lane gallery and are addressed by speakers. They cheer and begin to disperse.

"I, I, IRA. Fuck youse," is the response from pavement onlookers.

1:21pmBuses arrive for the marchers. There is jubilation on the pavement. "Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio," taunt the crowd; "32, 32, 32," chant others. Others roar at the gardaí - "Gardaí/RUC." "That's a good day's work," says one man.

Anne Kennedy from Laois tries to explain to Malik Annar from Pakistan what is going on. He wears a Muslim hat and has asked her "which country should I support?" She advises him: "I think you should take advantage of your neutrality." An elderly man says to Malik: "It's good to see you people here. I'd prefer Allah to King Billy any day."

1:30pmThe buses pull away. A crowd heads towards O'Connell Street chanting "I, I, IRA". The street is blocked by gardaí opposite the Gate Theatre. The barrier is opened to allow a Garda van through. As gardaí try to close it again they are rushed aggressively by the crowd. A plainclothes garda has a direct hit on a protester's jaw. Gardaí secure the barrier.

"Ulster = Nine Counties not Six" reads one of their placards. "I, I, IRA," they chant. A large green banner says "Remember Dublin-Monaghan Bombing Victims of Unionist Violence".

O'Connell Street is a wasteland of collapsed fencing, trenches, cobblestones, and broken glass which crunches underfoot. Jim Larkin has his arms raised urging that "the great are only great because we are on our knees. Let us arise".

Before him a line of gardaí in riot gear are assailed by a blizzard of stones and bottles. In front of them are a couple of hundred agitated youths, some wearing Celtic shirts, some Ireland jerseys, some with the Tricolour wrapped around them.

A TV cameraman has blood streaming down his neck. He was caught by flying glass when a bottle smashed. Stones and bottles pour down. Youths run up to individual gardaí with cobblestones, attempting to hit them in the face over their riot shields.

A gang fills a bottle bin with plastic and rubbish and sets it alight. It flares into clouds of black smoke. A couple of youths shake a bus stop sign trying to remove it. They can't. They chant: "Olé, olé, olé."

Gardaí advance towards the gang. Suddenly the youths run towards O'Connell Bridge, up D'Olier Street. They heard on mobile phones that the Love Ulster marchers are at Leinster House. On the way they set fire to a motorcycle near the statue of Sir John Gray, soon lost in smoke. A middle-aged man nearby hands out a Republican Sinn Féin leaflet opposing the march.

2:30pmGardaí rush along College Street heading to Leinster House. A woman wants to know when the next bus is due. A Garda says "there won't be any buses for a while. Get a Dart".

2:45pmAt the barrier on Molesworth Street two men - one young, one elderly - are having an intense argument. The elderly man explained, approvingly, that the Love Ulster people had marched outside Leinster House. The young man is apoplectic. "It shouldn't have been allowed here and it's thanks to your kind this sort of thing happens at all." He walks off with his girlfriend. The elderly man shouts after him: "This is a democracy. Where were you in '39 to '45?"

3:05pmSouth Frederick Street. PD office window broken. In South Leinster Street two cars are smouldering. All windows in a van belonging to St Columba's Church of Ireland College have been smashed, as have been the windows in two Mercedes. Outside Phoenix House, a burnt-out, upturned car lies strewn across the pavement, covered in a white ash. It was there that one of the 1974 Dublin bombs went off.

3:15pmAt the end of Dawson Street, opposite the Douglas Hyde Gallery, seven mounted gardaí are in a line across Nassau Street. They advance towards Grafton Street with, behind them, five Alsatian dogs on leashes, followed by a line of gardaí in riot gear. Gang numbers are reduced.

3:21pmFour Garda vans are parked on Westmoreland Street at the junction of Fleet Street/Temple Bar where some youths have disappeared. Two men are standing at the corner of Fleet Street and the Westin Hotel speaking animatedly in Welsh. Aston Quay is barricaded by gardaí in riot gear and routes leading from it to Temple Bar.

The gang cross Grattan Bridge into Capel Street as traders take furniture inside their shops. The gang turns into Lower Abbey Street. One attaches a Tricolour to a pole as he passes. They enter the Jervis Street Shopping Centre, up an escalator from the Abbey Street side, chanting "I, I, IRA". They make their way rapidly through the centre, uprooting potted plants on the way to Henry Street. A small number of them gather outside the GPO. Soon there is a large number of gardaí there too. "Listen folks, will ye go home," urges a young garda. Soon gardaí and gang have dispersed.

4:15pmOn Upper O'Connell Street the clean-up is almost complete. The bottle bin opposite Penneys smoulders. Windows at Schuh, Foot Locker, McDonald's, Eddie Rockets have been smashed.

4:30pmThe skeleton of the burnt-out motorcycle smoulders. In its entrails is a copy of Saoirse, Republican Sinn Féin's newspaper. Its front page reads "Oppose Loyalist March".