Irish Muslim Council president Sheikh Dr Umar Al-Qadri said he had advised his community to avoid travelling to Dublin this weekend after Thursday evening’s unrest, reports RTE.
Speaking to Colm Ó Mongáin on RTÉ on Saturday, he said he “never could have imagined” that he would have to offer such advice in a country where the immigration experience over the past 20 years has been so surprising and welcoming.
“That is now, slowly, unfortunately, changing,” he said, reports RTE.
He described how, after the violence broke out on Thursday evening, he received many messages from Muslims in Ireland concerned about anti-immigrant rhetoric and videos circulating inciting violence.
He said, there is a belief in the Muslim community that if the policemen are not safe, how can we be safe?
“We advised our community to be very vigilant. The mosques usually have weekend schools where children go but we asked them to suspend it this weekend. We asked people not to travel to Dublin city, to stay indoors. We asked if they had to travel, not to travel on public transport and don’t travel alone,” reports RTE.
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