Speaking out regarding the garda response to the public disturbance in Coolock, Dublin, in July, is the developer of the property intended for asylum seekers, reports RTE.
Anti-immigration protests have centred on the former Crown Paints location, and on July 15 they turned violent. That day, Paul Collins’s crew was under siege as masked individuals ran amok across the premises for over an hour, despite staff members calling gardaà repeatedly in need of assistance.
RTÉ Investigates recorded the disruptions occurring within the complex on camera, reports RTE.
Mr. Collins, who is leasing the property and has a contract with the State to house 574 asylum seekers there, expressed dissatisfaction with the way the police handled problems pertaining to the location.
“I don’t feel I’m being supported. I don’t feel the State has my back,” he told RTÉ Investigates, reports RTE.
Protests have been ongoing since February, which is why the location is still unoccupied.
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A temporary camp was established near the site’s entrance in February as a result of the demonstrations, and it continued to expand over the following months.
“I believe that the people that are actually inside – in the front of the Coolock site – are breaking the law,” he said during the filming of the documentary. I don’t understand in the sense of, you know, the hands on, the hands-off approach, I don’t understand, is there a law or is there not?” reports RTE.
After a large-scale Garda operation in mid-July, which caused considerable public unrest, the camp was ultimately evacuated. According to Mr. Collins, during that time, trespassers vandalised the site’s buildings’ contents and intimidated employees.
On the morning of July 15, a group of Mr. Collins’s company’s maintenance and security personnel entered with him. They were all soon effectively under siege and in danger as things became more unstable, reports RTE.
Following the clearance operation, there were fewer Garda officers in the area. After someone threw a petrol bomb over the wall in the direction of Mr. Collins’ employees, a man approached the area and made threats to knife a security guard. A big digger was burned separately.
When someone who had infiltrated the premises threw a timber pole in the direction of another security officer, the man suffered significant injuries, reports RTE.
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