Man brutally attacked on O’Connell Street in broad daylight after fake child abduction claims

Gardaí have ‘growing concerns’ over the number of assaults carried out on migrants, with many of the new arrivals falsely accused of targeting children before being attacked.

The latest incident happened on Sunday evening when a man was attacked on O’Connell Street Lower in the capital.

Video footage from the incident shows him being accused of trying to abduct a child.

No Garda investigation is ongoing in relation to any attempted child abduction on Sunday.

However, there is an investigation into the attack, which saw around a half-dozen people beating the man as he pleaded for them to stop. He was left bloodied by the beating.

Videos of the incident have been shared across social media. Some prominent members of the far-right, including British nationalist Tommy Robinson, have posted the video.

Sources have said the O’Connell Street attack was borne out of ‘nothing’ and that the growing number of these incidents is something which is concerning officers.

One source said: ‘It started out of nowhere. Something was said by the man and there were children nearby. There had been people congregating out by Cleary’s across the road from where the assault happened and they added two and two and got five. They started accusing the man of something and then it came to blows outside a shop.

‘I know the fight spilled into the shop which led to staff pushing the panic button which alerted gardaí in Store Street. ‘This is becoming a big concern for gardaí. People now think they can get into a physical altercation just because someone else accused another person of something.

Gardaí have seen the video that is being shared and are working on identifying the individuals from it.’

This is the latest in a string of incidents in recent months in which someone has been targeted by claims they had interacted inappropriately with a child.

In March of this year, gardaí were called to Newbridge in Kildare after misinformation spread on social media that a seven-year-old girl had been raped at a hotel.

Gardaí confirmed no incident of this nature had occurred.

Other incidents of violence against migrants have occurred in East Wall, Pearse Street, as well as in Kildare, Waterford, Cavan and Louth. Researcher with anti-bigotry group the Hope and Courage Collective, Mark Malone, told the Mail: ‘There definitely is the use of false claims of child abduction as a way of creating fear and division. It’s something we’ve seen as part of a playbook used by the far-right.’

An Garda Síochána has been contacted for comment.