All the alarms were already sounded when in September a couple of hundred far-right elements blocked the Parliament building (Oireachtas), preventing the entry and exit of deputies and harassing passers-by with neo-fascist gestures and shouts such as "Ireland first", “Ireland for the Irish” and “Emigrants Returning Home”. But now things have gone even further, with the destruction of police cars, a tram and several buses, the assault on a central hotel and the looting of shops.
The pretext was the attack by an individual – an Irish national who has been in the country for twenty years – on children at a primary school, which left a five-year-old girl and the teacher who tried to defend her in serious condition, and injuries. mild injuries to two other infants of similar age. The assailant was overpowered by a Brazilian immigrant who was passing by on his Deliveroo bicycle and hit him on the head with his helmet; Immediately afterwards, other people kicked him until common sense prevailed and tempers calmed down.
The thing didn't stop there, however. Rumors began to circulate on social networks that the person responsible was an immigrant, far-right groups mobilized and at night they gathered on O'Connell Street, the most historic street in Ireland, whose post office was the heart of the Easter Rising of 1916, precursor to the War of Independence.
In scenes not seen in decades and more typical of troubled Belfast than Dublin, young neo-fascists attacked the police with sticks, flares, tools and Molotov cocktails, burned vehicles, robbed shops and destroyed everything in their path, encouraged by more mature men who applauded them. All this in front of the war memorial, on O'Connell, Grafton Street and Parnell Square, streets that bear the names of the heroes of the Irish homeland and were closed throughout the night.
Thirty-four people were arrested and appeared in court yesterday for charges, facing up to twelve years in prison. The reputation of the Gardai (Irish police), who deployed four hundred troops but suffered enormously to control the situation, has not emerged unscathed, however, due to the feeling of helplessness of the citizens, who watched in amazement at the level of destruction or were unable to return. from work to their homes due to the suspension of public transportation. For hours, a helicopter hovered over central Dublin, and authorities have borrowed a water cannon from Belfast in case riots break out again.
“Ireland is not this, we Irish are not this,” Prime Minister Leo Varadkar (of Indian origin) stated sadly to a country that has not yet fully assimilated what happened. Along the same lines, President Michael O'Higgins described the events as an unforgivable attack against democracy and social inclusion.
But the truth is that populism has been advancing in the Republic of Ireland for some time due to the same thing as everywhere else, people's discontent with the increase in the cost of living, inflation, rental prices, the deterioration of the health and education, the lack of affordable housing and the terrible state of public services. Traditionally an exporter of emigrants, prosperity has turned the tables and now twenty percent of the population is born abroad.
The pro-establishment center-right parties that have historically dominated the country's politics (Fianna Fail and Fine Gael) are those that are paying the greatest electoral price. Despite its historical link with IRA terrorism, Sinn Fein, with a left-wing program that its critics describe as populist, received the most votes in the last elections (although it was unable to form a government) and is the favorite to win the elections. next year or 2025.
On the other side of the spectrum, small groups have emerged such as the Freedom Party, the National Party or the Anti-Corruption Party, which lack sufficient support to have parliamentary representation but make noise, and organized the assault on Parliament. They agree in the denunciation of globalization, the political and intellectual elites, gays and transsexuals, the attachment to the “traditional Christian family”, the phobia of immigration, the opposition to sexual education in schools, vaccines and Help Ukraine. In various locations, his followers have gone to public libraries demanding the destruction of children's books that in their opinion promote homosexuality and pedophilia, and have demonstrated violently in front of refugee reception centers, hotels and shelters where asylum seekers live while Your requests are processed.
Ireland has undergone a great modernization in recent decades, the Catholic Church has lost much of its influence, divorce and abortion have been legalized, and gay relationships have been normalized. But a good part of its society is insular and nationalist, susceptible to falling into the hands of an increasingly organized extreme right in a climate of social discontent. This, pessimists warn, may only be the beginning.
