“Shocking” and “Frightening” – that’s how a number of people from Carlow and Kilkenny have described scenes on Dublin Streets last night.
Calm has been restored to the capital’s city centre after rioting which has been branded by Gardaí as ‘gratuitous thuggery’.
Public transport and emergency services personnel and equipment came under fire with vehicles damaged and some businesses looted.
Public Transport
The operator of Luas services say extensive damage has been caused to over head power cables in the city centre with Red Line services not operating between Smithfield and The Point and Green Line services are not running between St. Stephen’s Green and Broombridge.
Transdev’s Dervla Brophy says it will be hours before city centre services are restored.
Dublin Bus services have resumed this morning after being suspended last night but passengers are warned to expect delays and disruption with routes unable to access Parnell Square or O’Connell St.
Stabbings
The violent scenes followed a stabbing incident outside a school on Parnell Square yesterday afternoon during which a five-year-old girl and a woman in her thirties were seriously injured in the attack.
Two other children were were also hurt.
The suspect a man in his late forties was arrested at the scene and taken to hospital.
Chief Superintendent Patrick Mc Menamin says hundreds of Gardaí were deployed to deal with last night’s violence, it’s understood some of these came from our Division.
Those participating in and attending Letters from the Front at the O’Reilly Theatre were also impacted by the action and have been describing their experiences to KCLR.
Hear from some of those here:
Calls for Kilkenny bridge to be blocked
Meanwhile, there were calls last night for action closer to home in response to the stabbings.
Social media postings asked people to show up at John’s Bridge in Kilkenny city at 9pm to block it.
However KCLR News understands less than 10 turned out – Gardaí say they did attend Canal Square in Kilkenny city last night following a report of people shouting ‘Go back home’ but there was nobody there when they got there.
Stay tuned for updates on KCLR News & on The KCLR Daily (10am to 1pm) and if you’ve something to say or share text/whatsapp to 083 306 96 96.
