Around 100 people gather in East Wall to protest against the refugee center

Around 100 people gathered on Dublin’s East Wall in front of an old ESB building to protest its current use as a refugee housing centre.

The crowd gathered at 5 p.m. and marched along East Wall Road while being patrolled by a relatively small Garda presence in police cruisers and on bicycles.

When the protesters reached the entrance to the harbor tunnel around 5.30pm, they blocked its entrance and exit and stopped traffic on East Wall Road.

Chants of “Irish lives matter” and “Help the Irish” were sporadically shouted from the middle of the intersection as dozens of rush-hour commuters honked their horns in frustration at the gridlock.

A man attempted to drive through the protest but was stopped as men surrounded the car.

Eventually he turned and left the scene.

The entrance was blocked for 30 minutes, causing significant traffic jams, but at 6pm protesters finally let traffic through and headed back to the ESB building, carrying signs reading ‘Caring for the Irish is not far right’ and “soon to be empty” waving buildings near you”.

This protest was the latest in a series of anti-immigration events taking place across the country.

Meanwhile, more than 50 people held a march and protested against immigration policies in the north Cork town of Fermoy.

The group marched from Christ Church on Fermoy Park to the Kent Bridge this evening, where traffic through the city was momentarily delayed.

Protest organizers agreed to keep the demonstration off the road to avoid disrupting traffic as a number of motorists declared their plight and the urgency of their journeys.

Fermoy Gardaí oversaw the protest, which was organized a month after a large anti-racism rally in the city.

This rally was organized after activists protested against asylum seekers in front of a former convent in the city, now used as a shelter for international refugees.

Protesters tonight attacked the government, accusing it of a chaotic response to the asylum seekers crisis which they warned has put unnecessary pressure on an already severe housing crisis in Ireland.

The protest organizers also accused the Irish media of complicity with the government and failing to highlight the consequences of allegedly excessive immigration.

Elsewhere, a Garda Public Order van and two squad cars blocked the entrance to the Abbey Hotel in Athy, Co. Kildare, which was housing asylum seekers, where a small group of protesters stood outside on either side of the road.

The group of around 40 protesters chanted “out, out, out” and “house the Irish first” and marched through the city streets, gathering just outside Labor Party Senator Mark Wall’s office before settling in the town square gathered.

The group of men and women, mostly in their 20s, 30s and 40s, called for a change in government to tackle the housing crisis.

A woman who claimed she was homeless after fleeing domestic violence told the crowd she had no place to stay and should be put in the hotel instead of the asylum seekers.