THE POLICE SERVICE of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has sent two water cannon to An Garda Siochána following last night’s riots in Dublin.
The PSNI confirmed in a statement this afternoon that they had dispatched the water cannon.
“The Police Service of Northern Ireland has dispatched two water cannon in response to a Mutual Aid request from An Garda Síochána,” the force said in a statement.
These will be solely operated by An Garda Síochána officers.
The aid comes following a night of serious unrest in Dublin City, during which gardaí were attacked, buses and a Luas tram set on fire, and shops looted. The riots began following a knife attack on a number of people including small children in Dublin city yesterday afternoon.
Thirty-four people were arrested as a result of last night’s riots, with the majority appearing in court today.
Earlier Garda Commissioner Drew Harris claimed that gardaí could not have anticipated the events that unfolded in the city centre.
He said it could not have been anticipated that the angry mob “would attempt to storm through our cordon and disrupt the crime scene and then engage in violence, looting and disorder and including some very significant criminal damage”.
“Nobody could have anticipated that when these events broke when these events started at 1.30, these awful events. And obviously we were concentrated upon the investigation. We couldn’t have anticipated that this would be the reaction,” he added.
However, Opposition figures, including Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald, have said they now have no confidence in Harris or in Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
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