We send our heartfelt solidarity to the child who was a victim of a horrific sexual assault which took place around Citywest on Tuesday. We also send our solidarity to the asylum seekers, migrants and people of colour communities in Ireland, and all those victimised by the far right, and left in fear after last night’s racist riots outside the IPAS centre in Citywest, housing families seeking international protection.
Over 1,000 people protested and rioted outside the centre, which houses a mix of international protection applicants and other refugees. Over 80% of residents are part of family units housed in the facility. Fires were started, fireworks launched, and rocks, bottles and other missiles thrown. Shouts of ‘Get them out’ resounded. Chilling videos are emerging of cars being stopped and their drivers’ ethnicity being checked. A 60-year-old Afghan man was savagely beaten and suffered a broken foot.
These events unfolded after a sexual assault perpetrated on a child was reported. All such cases are gut-wrenching, but the fact that she was in the care of Tusla and left unaccompanied so late at night makes it even more troubling. Tusla has a case to answer for failing to protect this child. We want to see the offender of this heinous crime brought to justice, and the victim’s care and healing must be centred and supported.
Irresponsible reporting
A victim-centred approach was far from the minds of some journalists and publications reporting on this incident. One crime correspondent immediately reported the suspect as an “African asylum seeker”. The suspected perpetrator’s background was widely reported on, irresponsibly publishing his address as Citywest Hotel. Yet the suspect was apparently not living there at the time of arrest. This was done in full knowledge that it would expose the families and children who live in this centre, who are totally innocent and in many cases fleeing war and sexual violence themselves, as well as the wider migrant community in Citywest and across Ireland, to vicious and dangerous attacks by racist thugs.
One teacher from the area told us of the fear this has instilled in children and parents: “Right now there’s basically lockdowns: our school closed early, the first and second years didn’t leave the [IPAS] centre this morning. Some of the fifth years did, but then were swiftly brought back to the Centre by teachers and principals because of the fear and the worry of the parents.”
Far-right agitation
Protests were egged on by everyone from far-right English nationalist Tommy Robinson to fascistic billionaire Elon Musk. People came from as far as Britain and Canada to attend, with the likes of GB News and far-right Canadian agitator Ezra Levant flying in to attend. Supporters of Conor McGregor, found in court to be liable for rape, cynically pretended that they now care about sexual violence once details of this case were released, in order to stoke up a racist mob. Those who do this actually seek to hide the reality of such violence – which overwhelmingly is perpetrated by someone known to the victim, often members of their own family – and its root in patriarchal ideology, which is promoted by the far right.
Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger said: “Dozens of children are housed in Citywest and fear going out to school today. If you use an attack on a child to stoke racism and violence, you don’t care about violence against children or women.”
ROSA – Socialist Feminist Movement wrote: “Dozens of cases of gender violence went through the courts yesterday and there were no protests called by the macho ‘protectors of women and children’ who only care if the perpetrator can be xenophobically ‘othered’”, and “Men’s violence against women and children cannot be abused by those just wishing to demonise black, brown and migrant men. It obscures the truth that nationality, ethnic background are not the issue; however, male supremacy, men’s violence and the patriarchal ideology of women and children as property are, and this violence happens in every country in the world and everywhere in society.”
Cynical Scapegoating
Tuesday’s mobilisation follows a pattern of far-right organising in Ireland – both North and South, and in Britain as well, with agitators consciously and cynically looking for cases such as this to weaponise and to scapegoat people of colour. Examples include the Dublin riot of November 2023, or the riots in Ballymena this summer. In the case of Ballymena, over a third of those arrested had previous domestic violence convictions, showing these movements are actually propped up by the very people perpetuating and committing violence against women and children.
Those sustaining this movement have little interest in actually tackling this issue, nor indeed any other issue affecting people, such as the housing or the cost of living crises. While posing as anti-establishment, they actually back to the hilt government policy and the capitalist system that creates, maintains, and continually intensifies these issues.
To genuinely tackle the issue of mens’ violence against women and children, we must also fight back against these racist attacks and scapegoating, against all forms of division, and against the capitalist system which incentivises and profits from misogyny, racism, oppression and exploitation. Communities such as Citywest must be safe, well-resourced, and well-served for all who live there, no matter their status or country of origin.
