DOZENS OF PEOPLE gathered for two peaceful protests in Dublin this afternoon against recent US police killings of black people.

Both protests began at 1pm – one outside the US Embassy in Ballsbridge and the other outside the US Ambassador’s residence in the Phoenix Park.

The two protests were organised in the last couple of days and around 180 people were in attendance in total. 

Scenes of unrest heightened across several cities in the United States last night, where police fired rubber bullets to scatter crowds and at least one police car burned.

The protests began in Minneapolis on Monday following the death of George Floyd after a police officer held a knee to his neck until he stopped breathing. 

The protests have since become a national phenomenon as people decry years of deaths of black people at police hands.

TD Bríd Smith at the Phoenix Park protest today. Ber Grogan Ber Grogan

Gardaí were made aware of a small demonstration in the Dublin 4 area this afternoon.

A garda spokesperson said there was no obstruction to traffic caused by the protests. 

The demonstration in Ballsbridge was largely silent, protester Anna Heverin told theJournal.ie, aside from chants such as: ‘Black lives matter, no justice no peace.’ 

“I, like many people there, am very aware of the situation in America blowing up at the moment and this was a good opportunity as somebody who lives in Ireland but wanted to show solidarity with what is going on in America,” Heverin said

She said the crowd were largely socially distanced and most people were wearing face masks or coverings. 

“There has been an absence of justice [in the US] and the actions of what is a minority few police officers, but I think there is a huge problem we can identify with police brutality.” 

A distanced protest in the Phoenix Park this afternoon. Ber Grogan Ber Grogan

In the Phoenix Park, around 100 protesters gathered including Solidarity – People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith.

Similar protests are being planned by several groups for this week in Dublin.