On the evening of 23 November 2023, a riot took place in Dublin, Ireland, and involved multiple incidents of vandalism, arson, and looting in the city centre as well as assaults on Gardaí (Irish police) and members of the public.

[7] The riot was triggered by a man stabbing three young children and a care assistant at around 1:30 p.m. GMT that day outside a primary school in Parnell Square East, Dublin.

[8] At a later point, the suspect was identified as Riad Bouchaker, originally from Algeria; he has been charged with multiple counts of attempted murder and assault and will face trial at the Central Criminal Court.

[12][13] Following the riot, the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, blamed the events on a "lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology."

[14] On 23 November 2023, at approximately 1:30 pm GMT,[16] a man armed with a knife attacked a group of young children outside Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire, a primary school in Parnell Square East, Dublin.

[24][25] The attacker was disarmed by three passers-by who intervened: Warren Donohoe from Baltinglass, County Wicklow, Caio Benicio, a delivery driver from Brazil, and Alan Loren-Guille, a 17-year-old trainee chef from France.

[28] After others began kicking the attacker as he lay on the ground, two women—a local and an American tourist—formed a protective ring around him, urging onlookers to wait for the gardaí to arrive.

[17] On 21 December 2023, the suspect was named Riad Bouchaker (Arabic: رياض بوشاكر, romanized: Riyāḍ Būshakar), a 50-year-old man from Algeria.

The court directed that the media refrain from naming Bouchaker's legal representatives, due to "safety concerns" and "after what occurred around the city".

[38] Following the stabbing incident, rumours spread on the WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal messaging apps that the attacker was an illegal immigrant, and that the children were dead.

[41][42] By 5 pm, a crowd had gathered at the top of O'Connell Street, near the scene of the stabbings, some carrying the flag of Ireland or placards with anti-immigration slogans such as "Irish Lives Matter".

[41][43] Around 6 pm, the crowd of between 100 and 200 people,[4] was joined by youths carrying metal bars and wearing facial coverings (including balaclavas and hoods).

[54] A police cordon was created at the Oireachtas building at Leinster House, while officers from the Mounted Support Unit were deployed in nearby Grafton Street.

[55] Garda Commissioner Drew Harris stated a "complete lunatic hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology" was behind the violence and condemned it as "disgraceful".

[49] Garda sources later told The Irish Times that the events were unlike anything seen in modern Dublin history, surpassing by far the levels of violence and criminal damage seen during the 2006 "Love Ulster" riots.

[5] Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the incident saw the largest deployment of riot gardaí to a public order situation in Ireland's history.

[63] Some schools in the vicinity of the riot closed early on 24 November and Temple Street Children's Hospital cancelled clinics for the day, although it remained open for emergencies.

[66] The Chief Executive of Retail Excellence reported that trading fell 70% in Dublin city centre compared to the previous Black Friday.

[68] The Muslim Sisters of Éire charity organisation said that it would be unable to provide its usual support for the homeless on O'Connell Street on 24 November, as it feared for the safety of its volunteers.

[70] Minister McEntee said gardaí were trawling through 6,000 hours of CCTV footage and vowed that further arrests would follow, while Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said damage to public infrastructure from the unrest could cost "tens of millions of euros to repair".

[74] Pressure mounted on the government and gardaí in the wake of the riots as McEntee insisted she would not resign and Commissioner Harris denied there were "personnel failures" inside the force.

Images from a recent army training exercise that included armoured personnel carriers were attached to the misinformation in order to deceive readers.

"[95] Sinn Féin leader and Dublin Central TD Mary Lou McDonald, whose constituency covers the area affected by the violence, said the incident sent "shock and horror throughout the community".

Party leader Mary Lou McDonald said the government was "not listening", and McEntee "refuses to acknowledge the political failures that allowed our communities to become unsafe".

[103] Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson extended his concern and compassion to those affected by the stabbings and thanked the emergency services for their response.

[49] Dermot O'Leary, general secretary of the National Bus and Rail Union condemned the "appalling violence" in Dublin following the decision to halt transport services due to the rioting.

[106] In response to the stabbing, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation said its hearts were "with the entire school community of Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire following the horrendous incident that has taken place".

[65] Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, stated in a social media post that she was "shocked by the brutal attack that injured several people in Dublin, including children".

The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs added that it was sending its "thoughts to the victims of this attack and their families" and stood "with Ireland and the Irish people".

[111] Former British prime minister Boris Johnson labelled the violent scenes in Dublin "race riots", and suggested that "achingly liberal" countries like Ireland now had concerns about the pace of immigration.