Members of the gardai came under attack by a motorbike gang in Finglas, Dublin, as officers clamped down on scrambler bike riders during Christmas Eve.
The incident reportedly began as a plain-clothes officers confronted a young man who had just fallen off an allegedly illegal bike in the Tolka Valley Road area. As gardai moved to arrest the youth, a number of other young men riding motorbikes surrounded the officers and began behaving in a threatening manner, prompting the outnumbered gardai to call for backup.
Elsewhere in Cabra and in the Finglas areas, gardai seized 11 illegal motorbikes during a major clampdown on the use of these vehicles. Locals claimed to have been besieged by joyriders in recent times.
At least two of the bikes were confirmed to have been stolen.