Google Maps Street View of Hardwicke Lane, Dublin

Debunked: Video of Gardaí near a Dublin mosque cut to imply they came to arrest a man in a mobility scooter

Police investigated an assault in Dublin City reported on 24 July.

A VIDEO THAT appears to show five gardaí standing near a man in a mobility scooter has been spread with false claims that they were sent to stop him from shouting outside a mosque.

A longer video shows that the gardaí were actually liaising with an ambulance on a laneway near the Rotunda in north Dublin City, and that they initially ignored the man in the mobility scooter as he repeatedly shouted at them.

Other footage posted the same day shows an incident between a man and a mosque worker, and gardaí said they were investigating an alleged assault in the laneway.

A small mosque that has been running from the adjacent lane has been the target of intimidation. An October 2025 article in the Dublin Inquirer details how The Sultan Mecid Education Centre has been attacked with eggs, nails and bolts, as well as having its bin set aflame.

However, a short video clip featuring a man in a mobility scooter and gardaí has been used to imply that locals that object to the mosque are being persecuted.

“At least six Gardaí and four squad cars sent out to deal with an elderly Dublin gentleman in a mobility scooter who won’t hold his tongue about the mosque that popped up beside his flats,” reads a post published on Facebook.

That post has been shared more than 320 times and has accumulated more than 1,900 likes since being posted to the page “Ireland – Rising from the Ashes” on 24 July.

The post shows what appear to be five gardaí in hi-vis jackets standing around a man in a mobility scooter who is shouting angrily on Hardwicke Street in the Rotunda area of north Dublin City.

However, those claims made in the Facebook post are undercut by a video posted on the same page, on the same day.

That longer video, posted less than 30 minutes previously, includes the same footage of the gardaí around the man. But it also shows what had happened in the lead-up.

The longer video opens with gardaí on the same street. One of them is talking with the driver of an ambulance on the scene. It appears that they have already responded to an incident in the vicinity. 

Gardaí told The Journal that they had been investigating an alleged assault that day in the lane next to where the footage was filmed.

The man in the mobility scooter is shouting at the gardaí, who initially appear to be ignoring him.

The man in the mobility scooter then goes towards the mosque, where he continues shouting, though this time at men in hi-vis jackets outside the door of the community centre.

Two gardaí then stroll towards him and appear to try to talk with him to little avail — he continues to shout over them. Other gardaí in the area amble toward the commotion, though no attempt is made to restrict or arrest the shouting man.

The footage was posted on 24 July and described as showing events that day.

In response to queries by The Journal, gardaí said they “received a report of an alleged incident of an assault on Hardwick Lane that occurred on Friday 24 July 2026 at approximately 1.20pm”.

“The investigation is ongoing”.

Another video, posted earlier that same day by an anti-immigration activist, showed a different man try to enter the mosque before throwing a punch at a man in a hi-vis jacket who was standing in front of the door, knocking the glasses off his face. He had identified himself as security. 

While it is unclear whether this is the same incident that was being investigated by gardaí, an edited video used to claim that six gardaí and four vehicles were sent to stop a man from shouting outside the mosque is intentionally misleading.

The Journal’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.

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