Gardaí break up scuffles at meeting on immigration

Gardaí had to intervene to stop disturbances which broke out at a political meeting held in Dublin on Saturday evening to discuss Ireland’s immigration policy.

Members of Identity Ireland - an organisation which advocates for tighter immigration controls and an exit from the EU- gathered at Jury's Inn Hotel on Parnell Street to hear an address from the group's founding member and former MEP candidate Peter O'Loughlin.

As the meeting began at 6.30pm, a sizeable portion of the 50 to 60 people in attendance began heckling Mr O’Loughlin during his opening address, and accused him of propagating racist ideals.

Following a lengthy interruption by Shane O'Curry from the Anti-Racism Network (ARN) Ireland, the protest group began a chorus of We Shall Overcome in order to drown out any further contributions from Mr O'Loughlin.

At this point, a number of scuffles broke out among the audience and hotel security was called.

Despite pleading with the group to let him proceed with his statement, demonstrators maintained their verbal barracking and turned their chairs away from the presentation area.

The meeting’s organisers then proceeded to turn the lights off and pump cold air into the conference room in a failed effort to encourage any dissenters to leave.

While it was labelled as a non-violent protest, two men were seen exchanging headbutts as some patrons attempted to prevent others from leaving the room.

A number of other hostile confrontations occurred before a group of at least six gardaí arrived to quell the unrest.

Hotel management stopped the meeting at approximately 7pm and, following Mr O’Loughlin’s departure, the crowd eventually dispersed.

Speaking to The Irish Times following the event, the former National Independent Party politician said he was "hugely disappointed" that he wasn't afforded the opportunity to explain his policies to members of the public, and said he never expected such scenes would arise.

He spoke of his unhappiness that the gathering had been cut short after driving up from Cork earlier in the day, although hotel management did agree to return the room hire deposit.

He said further meetings would be held at various locations across the country but Mr O’Curry, who is director of the European Network Against Racism Ireland and also active with ARN Ireland, believed Mr O’Loughlin would likely face similar resistance across the country.

“As a network we’re not prepared to stand by and allow racist discourse to be heard in the public sphere. If people start using racist and xenophobic language it can divert people’s genuine fears in the wrong direction,” said Mr O’Curry.

Established late last year, Identity Ireland has been likened to UKIP due to its hardline Eurosceptic stance and opposition to immigration.

Responding to accusations about his personal ideologies, Mr O’Loughlin said he was not anti-immigrant as such, but rather anti mass immigration.