Dublin riot: Floral tributes to victims of stabbing

 

Image caption,

Flowers have been left to the victims of Thursday's stabbing in Dublin

Floral tributes have been left for the victims of Thursday's stabbing attack in Dublin, which was followed by hours of rioting in the city centre.

Three children and a school care assistant were injured in the knife attack outside a school. A five-year-old girl remains in a critical condition in hospital.

Vehicles were set on fire and shops looted in the subsequent disorder. 

Police are trawling through 6,000 hours of CCTV riot footage.

On Friday, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said the most riot police in Irish history were deployed to deal with the violence.

It was reported that she briefed fellow ministers that Irish police would be certain to arrest more individuals.

IMAGE SOURCE,

A major police presence remained in Dublin city centre on Friday night, with officers making several arrests on O'Connell Street after sporadic altercations.

An Garda Siochána (Irish police) said on Saturday that an "enhanced policing operation" remained in place in Dublin city centre.

They also said that there were no reports of any significant incidents on Friday night.

Earlier on Friday, Ms McEntee defended the police's response after Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of the largest opposition party Sinn Féin, said she had no confidence in either Ms McEntee or the head of the Irish police, Drew Harris.

Mr Harris blamed the rioting on a "lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology".

Officers arrested 34 people after vehicles were set on fire and shops looted, with many of those who were arrested appearing in court on Friday on a variety of offences including possession of weapons and stolen property.

Speaking on Friday, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar said about 500 people were involved in the disorder.

He said they had "brought shame" on Ireland and promised new laws within weeks to bring those involved to justice.

WATCH VIDEO