Gript has learned that advocacy group Say No to Direct Provision stated that a report had been made to the Gardaí in relation to an assault they allege took place at the City West direct provision centre in Dublin.
Say No to Direct Provision Ireland have claimed that the man was “badly beaten” by 7 members of the security at the hotel after asking for halal food. They say security “took away his camera” and that they “ beat him and evicted him”.
They also claimed that he had to spend the night at Connolly hospital due to the severity of his injuries.
Footage of City West Hotel Security Guards using force towards a refugee asking for food. They took his phone and evicted him for asking for food. Shameful action. Racism alive and well in Ireland. #AbolishDirectProvision pic.twitter.com/FFw1mxpn8R
— Abolish Direct Provision Campaign (@AbolishDirect) August 14, 2022
We contacted SNDP for comment, but they would not speak to us.
Refugee Assault Update
Osama spent the night in Connolly Hospital after being assaulted by 7 Security Guards in City West Hotel Direct Provision because he asked for Breakfast. We are preparing to go to the International Protection Office for them to accommodate him urgently 💔 pic.twitter.com/T3gtbJJZEr— Abolish Direct Provision Campaign (@AbolishDirect) August 15, 2022
Our investigations have uncovered that SNDP stated on their Facebook page that they had reported the alleged incident to An Garda Siochana.
The time stamp on the comment shows that it had been made before Gript contacted the Gardaí in relation to the matter yesterday morning.
We were told that from a search of the Garda database from the 12th to the 16th of this month, no such incident had been recorded.
We contacted the Gardaí again this morning to inquire whether any reports had been made subsequent to the publication of our article, but it was again confirmed that there is “no report on our system that matches your description.”
As we reported yesterday, Say no to Direct Provision have been exposed previously for spreading false information about the treatment of refugees.