A group of about 30 people attempted to block the arrival of three coach loads of male asylum seekers in the Ballybrit area of Galway yesterday evening.
Eyewitnesses told Gript that local people protesting outside a disused building in an industrial estate ran into the road when they saw the buses approaching in an attempt to stop them.
One woman said that locals were distressed on learning that “300 plus men” would be house in a “disused office building” in the area.
She said there was great concern for the welfare of women in the area as she says there are three “large” businesses who operate night shifts which means that females are ‘coming and going alone’ in the area at night.
“We’ve been keeping an eye on what’s been going on all around the country, Breaffy, Dublin, Clare, and the Midlands as well,” she said adding, “We encouraged the locals in Fairview, Castlepark, and the broader area of Ballybrit to come out,”
The woman says that yesterday evening in the midst of one of the “peaceful demonstrations” locals had been holding in the vicinity of the office block, buses began to arrive.
She says protestors “threw themselves on the road” with one lady who is a friend of hers running up to a bus and standing in front of it.
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She said the buses turned around into a slip road at which point the protesters pursued the vehicles.
“We ran down to a slip road which goes out to a dual carriageway,” she said, describing how the protestors had blocked that area as well.
The woman says that around this point the place became “swarmed with Gardaí,”
“I’ve never seen so many police in my life,” she said
She says a “full blown blockade” ensued where the road was closed to allow “three buses to drive up the road the wrong way” so that the asylum seekers could be brought into the office building.
“The gardaí escorted the fellas in and we ran up the road,” she said, adding “we were too late,”
She said there was something “very sneaky” about the way in which the operation was carried out.
“The gardaí never engaged with us even as they were all forming in the area,” she said.
A Garda spokesperson told Gript “Gardaí attended at the scene of a peaceful demonstration outside a commercial building in Ballybrit, Galway city, yesterday evening, 1st June 2023.
“A man (40s) was arrested in relation to a public order offence and held at a Garda Station in Galway. He has subsequently been charged and is due to appear in court at a later date.”
She said the men housed in the office building all appear to be “non Ukrainian”.
The woman said the locals have received “no support” from local representatives regarding the arrival of the asylum seekers.
“There’s been no support, no advocacy” she said, adding “There’s been no information given to actual locals,”
Becoming emotional the woman said that people in the area were “terrified” and that many people in the area had “given up on the media” and felt “disheartened”.
“There are a lot of young mothers and a lot of children out playing,” she said
Another lady who lives in the area says residents were concerned about the identity of the men moved into the office, “We want to know have they criminal records,” she said adding that it wasn’t known whether the men were “vetted”.
She said that locals had approached a few of the men who had exited the building earlier today where they were from and were told ‘Georgia’.
“There’s no women and children,” she said, adding, “It’s all men”.
She said locals “feel very threatened” and they felt that gardaí were not willing to protect them.
“They’re not on our side, they’re not protecting us,” she said.
The woman said that there was “a lot of talk” among locals but that few were willing to “get out and do anything,”
“I think a lot of them are afraid,” she said, adding that “a few women” and some of the travelling community were there last night.
Mentioning plans to turn a Galway bar called The Lantern into a refugee centre the women said, “nobody knows what’s going on, and then it’s just upon you,”