Protesters urged to keep demos peaceful following Russian embassy truck incident
Leo Varadkar said the driving of a lorry through the gates of the embassy was ‘foolish and unhelpful’.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Police and political leaders in Ireland have urged anti-war protesters to keep within the law after a truck was driven through the gates of the Russian embassy.
Security has been bolstered at the embassy in Dublin following Monday’s incident. A man appeared in court on Tuesday morning charged with dangerous driving and criminal damage.
Deputy premier Leo Varadkar condemned the incident, branding it “foolish and unhelpful”.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris rejected a claim by the Russian authorities that gardai stood “idle” while the vehicle reversed through the gates.
Tanaiste Mr Varadkar expressed concern that Russian state media could try to use the incident to portray Ireland in a negative light.
“We’ve obligations under the Vienna Convention to protect diplomats who are here in Ireland, and also that will now be misrepresented in Russian state TV as Irish people being involved in violent acts against Russians,” he said.
“So, it was a foolish and unhelpful act in that regard, and I would say to anyone being involved in the protests, please do protest, we want you to do that, but peaceful protests – no violence, no criminal damage.”
Following Monday’s incident, the Russian embassy issued a statement of condemnation.
While the initial statement criticised the response of the gardai, a second statement later welcomed additional security measures put in place by the Garda.
Mr Harris said he did not accept that gardai had stood idly by, noting there was a swift arrest in the aftermath.
“Where there’s been other incidents as well, individuals are now in the criminal justice system,” he added.
“We’ve made detections in all of those instances, so to say we were standing idly by is not correct.”
Asked about the cost of the beefed-up security, Mr Harris said: “We have a responsibility obviously to protect all the ambassadors and embassies here in Ireland as part of our function as a policing service and so, in effect, these costs are met by our overall budget and our responsibility that we have.
“And so with the security arrangements at the Russian embassy they will be regularly assessed.”
He said security measures will be “proportionate and necessary”.
The Commissioner said it is important that protests stay within the law.
“There’s a lot of tension and people are protesting, as they’re entitled to do, but it is a time of high emotion and frustration amongst those protesters.
“What we’d say to them, you are entitled to protest, but you must follow the directions of gardai on duty and obviously you must not commit offences.”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.