Ireland desperately needed a symbol, a moral to get out of its misery. Most Irish people, frightened after the night of street violence, burning vehicles, broken windows and racist and xenophobic slogans that reached central Dublin last Thursday, clung to Rio-born Brazilian Caio Benicio, 43, from Janeiro and a Deliveroo I was a delivery driver in this city for a year.
“I don’t see myself as a hero, no matter how many times people repeat it. I also have two children. Anyone would have done the same as me. When you see a big man with a big knife attacking a girl… It doesn’t occur to you whether you are an immigrant or whether he is an immigrant. You are simply a human being who chooses to act. It’s an instinct, you don’t think about whether it’s dangerous or not,” the man who received the most applause and praise this week for so much pain explains to EL PAÍS.
Caio Benicio, the Deliveroo delivery driver, in front of the primary school door in Dublin this Saturday. Rafa De Miguel
At 1:40 p.m. (2:40 p.m. Spanish time), a man armed with a knife spread terror in Parnell Square in central Dublin. The students at Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire Primary School left school at this time [en irlandés]. He stabbed three children and a teacher who tried to defend them. Of them, both a five-year-old girl and the woman remain in hospital in critical condition.
Benicio left his motorcycle on the ground and gave the attacker a severe blow with his helmet. He immediately knocked him down and managed to push the knife away. The man had previously inflicted several stab wounds on himself. He remains in hospital and in police custody.
“I hit him again when he was already on the ground. Immediately, many people came up to him and started kicking him. He didn’t move at all. “Someone took the girl away from there,” explains Benicio in front of the school door on this Saturday morning, embellishing his story with gestures. “From then on I only remember bright flashes. I saw three ladies trying to protect him because if not, I’m afraid they would have killed him in the end,” says the Brazilian.
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The news immediately spread on social networks. The anger of those present turned into the fury and fury of hundreds of right-wing extremist fanatics who took to the streets. There was a rumor, never confirmed by the police, that the attacker was a foreigner. Some identified him as Algerian.
“This afternoon at seven everyone is on the street. There are no excuses. Everybody out. “Enough is enough,” wrote Gavin Pepper, one of the most active right-wing extremists in the anti-immigration campaigns waged in Ireland in recent months, on X (formerly Twitter). Then he put it out, but the fuse was already completely blown. “They won’t be able to control all of us. Let’s break up into small groups and do what we have to do. At seven everyone is on the street. Well equipped. Every damn foreigner you see, kill him. To all. “Kill them all,” said a voice message on Telegram from an account calling itself “Kill All Immigrants.” Security journalist Conor Gallagher told it in the Irish Times.
For this reason, the Brazilian Caio Benicio is the hope to which many citizens cling, to try to convince compatriots who may be in doubt in the face of a wave of migration as high in Ireland as in the rest of Europe, to leave the country never to leave country. Human side of this crisis.
Racism and street crime
The center of Dublin was abuzz with anti-immigrant cries on Thursday evening. And some groups of protesters tried to hunt down refugees sleeping in hotels and shelters scattered across Ireland. Around 73,000, including more than 50,000 from Ukraine. The doors and windows of Dublin City Dorms were covered in wooden panels this weekend. No immigrant had slept there for months, but the attackers tried to break into the building.
The Dublin City Dorms dorm will be covered in panels this Saturday. Rafa De Miguel
However, most of them were more afraid of burning cars, police vehicles, buses and trams. And to get a good pair of sports shoes after the windows of Foot Locker or JD Sports have been smashed, two stores specializing in sportswear that also woke up this Saturday completely covered in protective panels.
“The windows of this Spar also burst,” emphasizes the woman who runs an Oxfam antiquarian bookshop for charity in the supermarket opposite. “They were only interested in cigarettes and chocolate,” he laughs, relieved that the worst is over.
Hundreds of police were deployed in the city center to prevent a repeat of the riots, which the government admits were the worst in Ireland since 2006. The Garda, as the law enforcement officers are called (Guardians of Peace, in Irish), were unprepared for such enormous violence. Several of his officers suffered attacks and injuries. It took work to control 200 or 300 people who moved like a multi-headed snake intent on destroying anything in their path.
Degeneration in the neighborhood
“The threat from right-wing extremist and xenophobic movements has existed for at least two years. “With the arrival of refugees from Ukraine, things have gotten worse and the hate messages spreading through the networks have skyrocketed,” said Peter Farrelly, campaign coordinator of one of the MPs from Fine Gael, one of the three largest political parties . In a scenario where everyone is primarily nationalist, they are most inclined towards the center-right. “But there is a second factor that tipped everything over the edge. There is increasing degeneration in Dublin One [el distrito del centro de la ciudad al norte de la ría, cada vez más de moda, pero con serios problemas de seguridad]. There is massive drug use among the public and a significant increase in crime. These are the people who have nothing to lose, who have joined forces with the extreme right to raze the city to the ground,” he emphasizes.
For many it is a double consolation. It’s not just easier because it’s extraordinary to blame thugs for violence and unrest. It also serves to preserve Ireland’s image as a country of hospitality and tolerance.
However, the signals that reality is sending are more worrying. Last year, nearly 150,000 foreigners arrived in Ireland, a country of five million people with severe problems in accommodation and public services. They may be a minority, but the ultra-fans who walk the streets of Dublin with signs demanding: “Houses for Irish, not for the world” move freely. The correspondent could see one of them stalking and harassing two local journalists, recording them on his cell phone and accusing them of protecting the perpetrator who stabbed the girl. Next, he, along with another group of radicals, exuded glee when he posted the video on the networks.
“The police immediately asked us to seek protection [el jueves] and I hid. Today I feel good again, but I admit that I was scared,” explains Promise Enofe. He is Nigerian. He has lived in Ireland for 20 years. He works on the streets collecting donations and subscriptions for the humanitarian organization ActionAid. Nearby, a sizeable group of agents are patrolling the commercial street where Enofe is moving this weekend.
“I feel very safe in Dublin. Remember that I’m from Rio de Janeiro,” jokes Benicio. “I know a lot of Irish people who have treated me very well. There is a small group of people who hate immigrants, but I don’t think that can be generalized,” he says.
Many Irish people today rely on the Brazilian’s optimism, but the government has already announced plans to tighten hate crime laws and strengthen police capabilities. Everyone admits that what happened in central Dublin this week is a warning sign to watch out for.
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