Irish far-right demonstrators protesting the open-borders policy of the country.
The movement was allegedly born out of the housing crisis that the major Irish cities have been experiencing for several years now. In the various interviews I have done with far-right protesters, no one has described themselves as such, no one has been hostile towards me (clearly not Irish), no one has declared the need for an far-right government. What they all confirmed to me, however, was that there is a pressing housing crisis that puts families, workers, children and the elders out on the streets, because there are too many foreigners ‘filling the places’.
These are not the only ones demanding a solution to the housing crisis: other parties, left-wing, are also demonstrating, but they blame the crisis on the government, which seems to have no interest in solving this problem.
So far, many supporters of the Irish extreme right have not only shown themselves to be cheap populists, but have also been dangerous by organising riots, vandalising housing centres, or even trying to burn down accommodation facilities in which even war refugees were hosted.
The protest took place on May 6th in Dublin city centre. In reply to this gathering the Irish leftist party, People Before Profit, organised a counter-protest (first and last pictures). To avoid major clashes between the two, the Gardaì – police – kept divided the two crowds. The situation got quickly tense as far-right demonstrators were aggressive towards journalists and police officers.
