Outside the United States Embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin, on Thursday evening, anti-war protesters prepared for a rally.
Then a handful of Iranian counter-protesters, carrying US and Iranian flags, alongside a large placard showing the late supreme leader of Iran, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, surrounded by flames, suddenly arrived.
Others carried large signs showcasing Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah of Iran. An Irish anti-war protester could be heard labelling them “monarchists”.
Anti-war protesters carried placards of their own, some of which labelled US president Donald Trump the world’s number one “warmonger”..
The Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) called a protest against the military action by the US and Israel in the Middle East, saying civilians across the region continued “to bear the brunt of the violence”.
As soon as speakers of various groups, including the IAWM and the Peace and Neutrality Alliance, were handed a microphone, their speeches became nearly inaudible.
“This protest is called in solidarity with the people of Iran,” Sarah O’Rourke, a member of the IAWM, told those attending the protest.
Her remark resulted in shouting and a near drowning out of her speech as counter-protesters became enraged.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” one shouted. “You have no idea what you’re on about.”
“Israel only wants your oil,” one anti-war protester then responded, before the group chanted: “Stop the bombing. Stop the war. Freedom for Iran.”
In the background, protesters from both sides could be seen furiously pointing in each other’s faces and shouting.
O’Rourke said the group was “not pro-regime”.
“We are absolutely against the oppression of the people of Iran, but we also have seen what has happened in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq,” O’Rourke said.
“When the US decides to bomb a country, it leads to devastation for the civilian population, and we’ve seen as well what has happened with Israel and the devastation in Gaza.”
Describing the opposing group as “just one perspective”, she said: “This is not the way to respond to peaceful protesters who are standing in solidarity with the people of Iran.”
Soon after, counter-protesters chanted: “Thank you, Trump” as an Iranian woman called for an end to the conflict.
While People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett condemned the killing of “innocent schoolchildren” in Iran, opponents labelled those gathered “useful idiots for the extremist Islamists”.
“You have no idea what it is like living in an Islamic dictatorship. Don’t tell us what we want. We know exactly what we want,” said Daniel Seyri, an organiser of the counter-protest and member of Freedom for Iran Dublin.
Originally from Tehran, he has lived in Co Kildare for 16 years. He told The Irish Times he believed the protest was a “political gain” for People Before Profit and “their political agenda of anti-capitalism and anti-America”.
“It’s awkward for us to see they’re not Iranian … they want to be the Iranian voice. We are the Iranians. They don’t even come to us to ask our opinion and they start their own protest out of nowhere when Israel and America gets involved only.”
Boyd Barrett said the “bombing campaign” of the US and Israel would “do nothing to bring freedom or justice to the people of Iran”.
The US’s “main interest is actually to prevent self-determination”, he said, believing it would “threaten western interests and United States interests and domination of the oil resources in the region”.
“It’s very misguided for people to think the United States or Israel are going to facilitate a democratic revolution in Iran,” he said.