The makeshift camp was set alight hours after tense protests (Picture: PA)
The Irish Refugee Council has condemned recent anti-migrant protests after a camp for homeless asylum seekers was set on fire.
Nick Henderson, the council’s chief executive, described the act, which took place in Dublin on Friday, as ‘shocking, disgraceful and deeply distressing’.
There was tension during the protest at Upper Sandwith Street after pro- and anti-asylum seeker demonstrators faced off, separated by a line of public order gardaí.
Shouts of ‘Out! Out! Out!’ attempted to drown out opposing calls of ‘Immigrants are welcome here’, The Irish Times reported.
But some time after the demonstration ended, the fire brigade was alerted to a blaze at the scene and it appears the entire encampment has been destroyed.
Mr Henderson has called for homeless migrants to be put up in temporary accommodation as he believes they are now being targeted by the far right.
He added: ‘We have grave concerns for people’s immediate safety.
‘Over the last two or three months there wasn’t necessarily a particular place in the city where people were congregating.
Public order gardai policed the protests (Picture: PA)
The camp appears to have been completely destroyed (Picture: PA)
Protesters walked past the tents outside the International Protection Office in Dublin (Picture: PA)
A protester was seen confronting a man by his tent (Picture: PA)
‘That’s changed in the last few weeks and now people feel that there was safety in numbers, that they could camp, they could be closer to people in the same situation as themselves.
‘That’s changed now, they’re clearly targeted by the far right and their supporters.’
Mr Henderson added that people who come to Ireland seeking asylum and can’t provide for themselves are legally entitled to accommodation – but says the system has ‘broken down’ in recent months.
He said there has been an ‘abdication of clear statutory responsibility around housing, adding that ‘what happened in reality is that people have in many ways had to fend for themselves’.
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‘What happened in reality is that people have in many ways had to fend for themselves.’