A year after Dublin’s anti-immigration riots, a tent camp for asylum seekers faces hostility while some locals try to support the new arrivals
n the small town of Newtown Mount Kennedy, a holding centre for people who have just arrived inseeking asylum lies in the wooded grounds of Trudder House, a former convent. The building itself is disused and off-limits. Instead, men arriving from countries such as Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria are housed in 12-16 makeshift tents, separated from the town by a 10ft-tall fence daubed with graffiti reading “Newtown says no”.
In April, attempts by the police to disperse the crowds resulted in violent clashes, and five people were charged. Local people protested that the demonstrations had been peaceful and turned nasty by outside antagonists fuelled by an anti-immigration narrative. In July, people with knives and pipes attacked 15 asylum seekers sheltering in tents in central Dublin. There has been a sharp increase in arson on properties across the country linked to accommodating asylum seekers.
“For me, the worst is the spitting. They look at you and spit, not physically at you but away from them as if to show their disgust,” said Nawras, a Palestinian from Jordan who was taken to NTMK after arriving in Ireland in July. “Some of them look at you and hold their nose and walk backwards, and stay in eye contact with you, as if to say ‘you are smelly’.”
Footage obtained by the Guardian reveals a tented encampment offering little protection from the coming winter. On Thursday the department of integration said it was moving all men from the camp to alternative accommodation at a tent camp in Dublin “better equipped to deal with the current weather conditions”.Denise McAvinia, a member of Newtown Together, said the protests before the camp’s opening were “opposing the lack of communication, the lack of facilities”.
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