SIX people were arrested after a crowd outside a hotel housing migrants near Dublin threw bricks, bottles and fireworks at officers and set a police van on fire, Ireland’s national police force said today.

One police officer was treated for a foot injury.

Hundreds of people, many waving Irish tricolour flags, gathered outside the CityWest Hotel in Saggart, on the outskirts of the capital, on Tuesday evening after reports of a sexual assault in the area.

Some in the crowd attacked police who stood between them and the hotel, with attempts made to charge the police line using horse-drawn carts.

A police helicopter was targeted with lasers and a vehicle was set on fire.

Officers used pepper spray in efforts to disperse the crowd.

Police Commissioner Justin Kelly condemned the “thuggery” by “a mob intent on violence.”

Chief Superintendent Michael McNulty, the scene commander, said the unrest had been orchestrated by “disparate groups on social media, who stir up hatred and violence.”

He said: “This was not a peaceful protest. The violence exhibited was thuggery and an attempt to intimidate and injure.”

Prime Minister Micheal Martin said there was “no justification” for the disorder.

Hotels housing asylum-seekers have become flashpoints for protests across Ireland, as well as in Northern Ireland and Britain, often fuelled by reports of alleged crimes involving residents and stoked by anti-immigration and far-right campaigners.

In November 2023, hundreds of anti-immigrant rioters looted shops, set vehicles ablaze and threw rocks at police in central Dublin after three young children were stabbed outside a school.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said a man had been arrested and appeared in court in connection with the alleged sexual assault in Saggart.

“Unfortunately, the weaponising of a crime by people who wish to sow dissent in our society is not unexpected,” he said.

“Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. Violence is not.”

Five of those arrested, two men in their 50s and three in their 40s, have been charged with public order offences and were due to appear in court today.

A woman in her 50s was released without charge.

The area around the hotel remained cordoned off today, with police officers maintaining full security operations.