A big crowd turned out for the protest in Tallaght on Friday
Say ‘no’ to racism and violence!
“We have lost the ability to stand out for what is right,” said one of the first women to witness the attack on an Indian man in Kilnamanagh last week.
Jennifer Murray, a Tallaght resident, was driving by the roundabout on Parkhill Road on the evening of Saturday, July 19, and was the first to help the attack victim who was “covered in blood from head to toe.”
The man in his 40s, who had come to Ireland a few weeks earlier to start a job in Amazon, was beaten, forced to partially take his clothes off and stabbed by a gang of teenagers while rumours had spread online of him having inappropriate behaviour around children at the local park.
Following the attack, he was rushed to Tallaght Hospital and Gardaí denied the truthfulness of those rumours.
“I saw the teenagers gathered together and arguing with another local woman, while he was standing on the side of the road traumatised,” said Jennifer.
“When I pulled over to help, they were still trying to get him. He shut down completely and, in his state, the Gardaí had to cut his coat open to check his injuries.
“It still strikes me how incredibly polite he was in that situation, with no retaliation or aggression. He just didn’t understand how that could happen and how people didn’t help him.”
Speaking about the rumours spread online, Ms Murray said she can’t understand why people didn’t apply “the slightest amount of logic” to realise that those weren’t true and believes that the attack is “the direct result” of the hate and misinformation spread online about migrants in Ireland over the last few years.
She reiterated the same thoughts at the community stand-out organised by local activist group Dublin South-West Together (DSWT) on Friday, July 25, outside Rua Red.
“People bringing forward a negative,fear-based narrative have been very loud lately,” she said.
Councillors Britto and Baby Pereppadan present a bouquet of flowers to Jennifer Murray
“But there’s so, so many others who don’t want this narrative being spread. It has become so acceptable to be racist and to have this sort of ‘uneducated’ opinion about whoever wasn’t born here.
“My message is that you can love Ireland and be a patriot and still say no to racism and violence. Our humanity should go against any sort of political party or agenda.
“There have been a lot of issues in our society, and we all know this, but this is where this sort of negativity has to end.”
When asked if she believes people can safely walk around the area where the man was attacked, Ms Murray said, ‘Saying that it’s unsafe would be unfair. This is not who the locals in Kilnamanagh and Tallaght are. But I believe the responsibility is now on the good people of Ireland to say, ‘We will step up if we see something wrong, we’ll walk by if we see an Indian man scared of walking on his own’, until we can get laws in place.”
The “laws” Ms Murray talks about are what other people have called “consequences” for teenagers who commit such crimes.
“Many foreign nationals have contacted me after I spoke to the media, saying that they went through racist harassment. 75 per cent of them said it involved teenagers, and none of them understood how there’s no consequences for them just because of their age,” she said.
“If a teenager who commits literally manslaughter is treated the same way as a 12-year-old who has stolen a chocolate bar from the shop, it’s a massive issue for our society.”
At the stand-out, political representatives from Sinn Féin and People Before Profit attended, while there were fears of violence potentially caused by a far-right counter-protest.
Following the event, that ended without any disorder, Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South-West, Seán Crowe, said, “I was very proud of the dignified gathering that turned out tonight in support of the migrant community here in Tallaght.
“The plan of a small minority is to sow division and deflect away from the real causes behind our health and housing crisis.
“It’s hard to believe that there are such narrowminded people in this state that do not realise how dependent we are on people coming to Ireland with their vital skills to work.
“The message tonight is one of solidarity and support for the migrant worker who was assaulted in one of our estates simply because of the colour of his skin.
“We cannot and will not be bullied off our streets by thugs who are just looking for someone to assault and then parrot racist lies and misinformation to try and justify their criminality.
“The people of Tallaght have sent a clear message that there can be no more racist attacks like the one last weekend. No more lies and misinformation, no more cover for hate and division.”
