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The 2006 Dublin Riots

A series of riots in Dublin on February 25, 2006, is precipitated by a proposed march down O’Connell Street of a unionist demonstration. The disturbances begin when members of the Garda Síochána attempt to disperse a group of counterdemonstrators blocking the route of the proposed march. The situation escalates as local youths join forces with the counterdemonstrators.

Love Ulster is a Unionist organisation dedicated to commemorating the Unionist victims of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It is organised in part by Willie Frazer of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR). It is a partisan group established to voice outrage at killings by the Republican paramilitary organisations, but is criticised for not doing the same for victims of loyalist paramilitary organisations.

The Love Ulster march in Dublin is to consist of a uniformed band, several hundred activists (including some from the Orange Order) and relatives of victims, all of whom are to march from Parnell Street north of the River Liffey, down O’Connell Street, past Trinity College Dublin (TCD) onto Nassau Street, Dawson Street and Molesworth Street, and eventually reaching Leinster House, the seat of the Oireachtas, on Kildare Street.

The march of this group in Dublin is viewed as provocative by some Irish nationalists and many Irish republicans, particularly in the context of an Orange Order march. The Orange Order is accused of being a sectarian organisation known for its anti-Catholicism. The right to march is supported by the main Irish political parties and the march is authorised by the Garda Síochána. Love Ulster had organised a similar rally in Belfast in October 2005.

At previous FAIR rallies, a picture of an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member who was allegedly involved in the murder of 26 people in Dublin in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and who was himself killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1976, had been displayed. An organiser of the Love Ulster demonstration tells a republican newspaper that he cannot guarantee that images of the murder suspect will not be displayed during the demonstration.

Sinn Féin, an Irish republican political party, does not organise a protest and says that the march should be allowed to go ahead, calling for republicans to ignore the march. Republican Sinn Féin, a splinter political party no longer affiliated with Sinn Féin, has an organised presence.

Their protest blocks the northeastern junction of O’Connell Street and Parnell Street. The small Republican Sinn Féin group (and some activists from the Irish Republican Socialist Party) are joined by several hundred local youths. Before the violence breaks out, they chant republican chants. Several thousand bystanders are also on the scene but take no part in the subsequent rioting. When the marchers form up at the top of Parnell Square and their bands begin to play in anticipation of the start of the march, gardaí attempt to disperse the protest at around 12:45 p.m. At this point, scuffles break out between protesters and Gardaí.

After the failure of the initial garda effort to disperse the protesters, the violence escalates. The Garda Public Order Unit is deployed, and stones and metal railings are thrown at gardaí by protesters, as are fireworks, bricks, crude petrol bombs, and other missiles. As the rioting continues, the ranks of the rioters are swelled by many local teenagers who had not taken part in the initial protest. Several barricades are constructed from building materials on the street to impede the march and the Gardaí. The march is due to start at 12:30 p.m., but as the violence goes on the gardaí decide against trying to escort the marchers through O’Connell Street. At about 1:30 p.m. the assembled marchers return to the coaches that had brought them to Dublin from Northern Ireland. The three coaches are then driven to Leinster House, where a small parade is carried out, and a letter is handed to Irish Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell. They are then escorted out of the city. One of the coaches is attacked by stone throwers on the way home.

Violence continues sporadically on O’Connell Street for another hour or so. The Gardaí, advancing from the northern end of the street gradually push the rioters back southward. The most sustained violence takes place around the General Post Office building, where the rioters initially sit down in protest and then, after several of them have been batoned, regroup behind burning barricades and throw rocks, paving slabs and one or possibly two petrol bombs at Gardaí. Several Gardaí, protesters and a number of journalists from RTÉ and TV3 are injured.

While the standoff on O’Connell Street is still going on, several hundred rioters follow the Unionist coaches to the Nassau Street area where they set a number of cars on fire and damage several businesses. Further skirmishes break out around the River Liffey at O’Connell Bridge, Aston Quay, Fleet Street and Temple Bar, as the Gardaí retake O’Connell street, before the rioters disperse.

Having dispersed the rioters, the gardaí then closes O’Connell Street to facilitate a cleanup of the scene by building workers. Media reports estimate the cost of the cleanup job at €50,000, and Dublin Chamber of Commerce places loss of earnings for businesses in the city due to the riots at €10,000,000.

Estimates for the number of unionist marchers before the event are predicted to be over 1,000. However, only eight coach loads turn up in Dublin, indicating a far smaller number, possibly 300 to 400. Estimates for the number of counterdemonstrators vary between 300 and 7,000. The number is made much more difficult to determine by the presence of the several thousand bystanders at the scene who do not take part. Most of the rioters appear to be local youths, though some who brandished leaflets and other political literature are clearly political activists.

A total of 14 people, including six gardaí and a small number of journalists and photographers, are hospitalised as a result of the rioting. A further 41 people are arrested, according to RTÉ news. As of February 27, 2006, thirteen have been charged. Twenty-six people are convicted in January 2009 for their part in the disturbances and given sentences of up to five years. Two are described as “alcoholics.” One of them and a teenage boy are “homeless.” Three are not Irish – a Georgian, a Romanian and a Moldovan are convicted of looting shops on O’Connell Street. Two have travelled from County Offaly, one from County Galway and one from County Donegal for the riot. All the rest come from Dublin.

(Pictured: The Public Order Unit on O’Connell Street during the 2006 Dublin Riots)


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The Lansdowne Road Football Riot

The Lansdowne Road football riot occurs during a friendly football match between the Republic of Ireland and England in Lansdowne Road Stadium in Dublin on February 15, 1995.

The last time England had played Ireland at Lansdowne Road was a UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying Group 7 match on November 14, 1990. After that match, there were clashes between some Irish and English fans and the Gardaí on O’Connell Street in Dublin. Before the 1995 friendly match, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) holds talks with The Football Association (The FA) to review security arrangements to avoid a similar episode. The FA is offered 4,000 out of approximately 40,000 tickets, for English fans.

In pubs near Lansdowne Road stadium some English fans chant “No surrender to the IRA,” “Fuck the Pope” and “Clegg is innocent.” Irish fans are goaded, spat on and attacked. Pub staff find British National Party (BNP) literature left behind and, in some cases, pro-Loyalist graffiti in toilets.

The match begins at 6:15 p.m., and after 22 minutes, David Kelly scores a goal for Ireland. When a David Platt goal is disallowed for England in the 26th minute due to Platt being offside, some of the English fans begin throwing debris down into the lower stands, including parts of benches which they had ripped out earlier in the match. When this happens, the referee immediately stops the game, and brings the players off the pitch. When Jack Charlton, the Irish manager and former England player, walks off the pitch, the mobs “Judas, Judas.” The fans in the lower stands then spill out onto the pitch to escape the missiles from the English fans. Some Irish fans had mistakenly been put into the area where the English fans are when the FA returned a number of tickets to the FAI.

After the teams leave the pitch, the frequency of missiles intensifies, and after 12 minutes, the game is called off, and the fans are evacuated, with the exception of 4,500 English fans, who are kept in the stadium until the Garda Public Order Unit attempts to escort them out, at which time more violence breaks out. The Gardaí are slow to reach the area where the rioters are, and there is some confusion as to the exact location of the English fans between the Gardaí and the stewards. Twenty people are injured during the rioting, and forty are arrested.

The rioting is condemned on both sides of the Irish Sea. England manager Terry Venables says, “It was terrible. I have no words strong enough to describe how we feel about this. There could be repercussions.” Jack Charlton says, “I have seen a lot in football but nothing like this. It is a disaster for Irish football, but I didn’t want the game abandoned because what do you do with 2,000 English fans running around the town? The English fans were being bombarded by some of their own. And they brought out the worst in some of ours.” The rioting brings into question England’s hosting of UEFA Euro 1996, with Ireland’s Minister of State for Youth and Sport, Bernard Allen asking, “How can people from Ireland and from other countries go to England and expect to be safe watching matches in the presence of people like those who were here tonight?” The Garda handling of the match is criticised in the press when it is revealed that the Gardaí had been informed of the plans of some of the English fans to cause trouble by the British National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS). The decision to seat the English fans in an upper tier is also questioned in the press.

After questions are raised about the conduct of the Gardaí, former Chief Justice of Ireland, Thomas Finlay, is appointed to investigate the events. He finds that the rioting was entirely caused by the English fans without any provocation. The investigation finds that the head of the NCIS had offered help to the Gardaí in dealing with the hooligans, an offer which the Gardaí refused. Gardaí failed to act on a warning that 20 supporters of the England team who wore insignia of Combat 18 were travelling to the match. The segregation of the fans was also found to be insufficient, and this was found to be a contributory factor to the incident.

The next meeting between the two sides does not take place until Wednesday, May 29, 2013, a friendly at Wembley Stadium, and the next meeting in the Republic of Ireland is on Sunday, June 7, 2015, at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. Both games pass without major disturbances.