AS GARDAÍ MOVED in to break up protests and blockades over the weekend, rumours both online and among protest groups claimed that the police involved were actually from Northern Ireland.

“Reports are also coming in that PSNI officers from Northern Ireland have also been drafted in to help Gardaí,” far-right activist Derek Blighe said in a 11 April Facebook video that has been viewed more than 114,000 times.

“Foreign agents are allegedly being drafted into Ireland to quell protests.”

The Journal identified more than a dozen posts on Facebook and dozens more on X repeating or insinuating that the PSNI was involved with forcefully breaking up the protests.

The claim has also been shared with by protesters with reporters from The Journal, as well as a Sligo councillor who told Ocean FM “it was very emotional to see the recruitment of PSNI officers” to break up the protests.

Hundreds of gardaí cleared the blockade on Dublin’s O’Connell Street on Saturday, and a similar operations took place at an oil refinery in Co Cork and ports in Galway, and Foynes, Co Limerick.

False claims that PSNI forces have been recruited to move against protesters have been spread before, notably during the clashes between Gardaí and protesters against asylum seeker accommodation in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow, in 2024.

Like then, the claims of PSNI being brought in to police the fuel protests are baseless.

“Any content on social media suggesting that The Police Service of Northern Ireland was involved in any way in recent An Garda Síochána policing activity is false, and has no basis whatsoever in fact,” a statement given to The Journal by An Garda Síochána reads.

“An Garda Síochána was in charge of all policing related to National Fuel Protest blockades,” it continues, noting that while the Irish Defence Forces had been brought in for support, this was for “heavy vehicle lift capacity, only.”

“Misinformation, disinformation and fake news are typically amplified by online accounts in order to spread fear and concern among our communities,” the statement read.

The fuel protests have been the subject of multiple false claims, including a fake document that supposedly gave instructions for gardaí to handle the protesters, claims the army would fight the protesters, and claims that old videos or AI images showed the protests.

Experts told The Journal that rumours are very common during uncertain events when people are anxious, like during disruptive protests or when fuel prices are rising rapidly.

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