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AN ANTI-IMMIGRATION protest and a counter-protest have taken place on the streets of Dublin city centre.
There was a heightened Garda presence in the capital for the demonstrations, which disrupted traffic on some of the main thoroughfares through the city.
Anti-migrant activists made plans online to protest in Dublin this weekend against people from other countries moving to Ireland.
Left-wing groups and other organisations mounted a counter-protest in response, arguing against anti-migrant sentiment and insisting that migrants are welcome in Ireland.
Public order units and mounted gardaí observed the protesters and corralled the counter demonstration into a cordon behind barriers outside the GPO on O’Connell Street.
Waving hundreds of tricolour flags, the main protest marched from the Garden of Remembrance down past the GPO and onwards to the Customs House.
Participants held up signs with slogans including “Irish lives matter”, “Coolock Says No”, and “Ireland is Full”.
One banner featured a picture of Conor McGregor, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Shouts and chants heard during the protest included “get them out” and “Ireland for the Irish”. A chant of “Remigration, save the nation” by members of the National Party was also heard. Remigration refers to the forcible deportation of immigrants.
The counter-protest group chanted “refugees are welcome here” and “blame the government, not the migrants.”
Both the protest and counter-protest also chanted: “Whose streets? Our streets”.
Irish Freedom Party leader Hermann Kelly was among participants of the rally, along with anti-immigration activists Derek Blighe and Philip Dwyer. Independent councillor Malachy Steenson spoke at the protest, as did fellow Independent councillor Gavin Pepper.
National Party councillor Patrick Quinlan also gave a speech.
The counter-demonstration was made up of representatives from Labour and People Before Profit, as well as groups including the socialist feminist movement Rosa and Lawyers Against Racism.
The demonstrations disrupted transit through the city centre after 2pm, with queues of buses parked up along the quays of the River Liffey and cars directed to turn around by gardaí.
Traffic has resumed northbound on O’Connell Street. Luas services were partially suspended on parts of both lines earlier, but both the Red and Green Line services have since resumed as normal.
They were behind a garda cordon of public order units and metal barriers, as the anti-immigration protest passed by largely without incident – under the watch of a helicopter overhead.
A garda spokesperson said: “As this is an live and ongoing operational matter, no information is available at this time.”
The protest took place after Conor McGregor posted on social media in support of the march this morning.
He shared a video recorded at Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance, in which he said that those taking part in the march were “not here to sow division” but instead to “commemorate the valiant heroes” of the 1916 Easter Rising.
It is unclear whether McGregor participated in the protest.
With reporting from David Mac Redmond, Jane Moore and Press Association
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