Seven held over protests outside Leinster House

Five men and two male teenagers have been arrested in connection with disturbances outside Leinster House on the day the Dáil resumed after the summer recess.

They are being questioned over alleged violent disorder on Molesworth Street on September 18th.

Those detained are aged between 14 and 35 years of age and they are being held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be questioned for 24 hours.

During that day a crowd of up to 300 people protested outside the Dáil against the Government’s austerity agenda.

There were brief scuffles with gardai pepper spray was deployed on some protesters when there was a surge of bodies towards a barrier being manned by officers at the junction of Molesworth and Kildare Street near the Leinster House entrance.