(HorizonPost.com) – Several hundred anti-immigration protesters marching through Dublin on Monday to protest the influx of migrants into Ireland were met by a group of about 200 counter-demonstrators protesting against racism.
The anti-immigration protesters, waving Irish flags while chanting “Our streets,” began their march at the Garden of Remembrance to a staged rally in Dublin City Center to protest against the government’s immigration policies.
As the marchers made their way along the route, they met up with a group of about 200 people staging a “united against racism” counter-demonstration. The counter-protesters carried Palestinian flags and held signs reading, “No to far-right lies and racism” and “Welcome all refugees.”
While the two groups shared tense exchanges as the marchers passed, the heavy police presence in place well before kept the two groups apart.
Tensions between Ireland and Great Britain have increased in recent weeks as Ireland has seen a spike in migrants fleeing the UK in anticipation of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation plan.
In late April, Justice Minister Helen McEntee revealed that more than 80 percent of migrants seeking asylum in Ireland were entering the country from neighboring Northern Ireland, which is part of Great Britain.
Irish police last week dismantled a tent city that sprung up in Dublin in the capital’s Mount Street area last. In total, the police took down roughly 200 migrant tents.
The country has struggled to accommodate the record number of asylum seekers in the face of a housing shortage.
Irish premier Simon Harris’ government said last Wednesday that the migrants from the tent city had been moved to sites south of the capital where weather-proof tents had been set up to accommodate them. The sites also include showers, security, and food.
The flood of migrants has led to contentious and heated debate over the government’s immigration policies.
While many of the protests have been peaceful, protests last November prompted by the stabbing of two children by an Algerian man set off violent riots between anti-immigration protesters and police.
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