{"id":171326,"date":"2025-12-02T16:51:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T16:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/171326\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T16:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T16:51:07","slug":"afghan-asylum-seekers-allegedly-chased-and-beaten-for-20-minutes-by-gang-in-dublin-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/171326\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghan asylum seekers allegedly chased and \u2018beaten for 20 minutes\u2019 by gang in Dublin \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of men from Afghanistan<\/a> say they were subjected to a beating by a group of more than 10 people in Brittas, Co Dublin. The windows of their car were also broken. <\/p>\n

The alleged attackers used racist slurs, one of the men told The Irish Times.<\/p>\n

The Afghan men were taken by garda\u00ed<\/a> for medical treatment for injuries after the attack on Sunday, but had to leave their car at the scene in Brittas. <\/p>\n

When they returned for the vehicle on Monday, some attackers appeared at the scene again, forcing them to flee, he said.<\/p>\n

One of the victims, Muhammad, said about 12 to 14 people, including three on motorbikes and people in a car, had attacked them on Sunday afternoon. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey broke the windows of our car and they started beating the driver,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in the front seat and four people came to my side, broke the car window and punched me in my head, stomach and in my face. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my friends was on the back seat, and [the attackers] broke that window also and punched him in the head, face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muhammad and the other two men, all Afghan nationals, have been in Ireland some months and are international protection applicants fleeing the Taliban regime.<\/p>\n

He said the group attack, and being subjected to a second incident on Monday, left him and his two countrymen in fear, even though their experience of Ireland in recent months had been overwhelmingly positive. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were saying things like, \u2018You f**king immigrant, f**k you\u2019,\u201d Muhammad said of Sunday\u2019s attack. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were beating us for about 20 minutes and then they ran away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their attackers fled after two local people intervened.<\/p>\n

The local people recorded some of the attack on a mobile phone and called garda\u00ed. They arrived at the scene, but the alleged attackers had gone.<\/p>\n

One local source, who works as a volunteer in the area, said the community was shocked at the violence in what appeared to be a sustained attack on the men and their car.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in our community deserves safety, but [on Sunday] we saw a senseless assault on people in our community just because of their immigration status and where they lived,\u201d the volunteer said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need our politicians to take this seriously and [to] speak out in support of people who come to Ireland seeking safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The alleged attack happened after the three Afghan men had been transferred from the Citywest International Protection Accommodation Service<\/a> centre in Co Dublin to another one in Co Wicklow. <\/p>\n

They went to a garage in Tallaght to buy supplies. On leaving the garage, they noticed a driver was pursuing them very closely, which continued for a long period.<\/p>\n

They eventually pulled over at a roadside in Brittas to speak to the pursuing driver. <\/p>\n

When they did, other people allegedly arrived on motorbikes and in another car, with the first allegedly blocking the Afghan men in. They say they were then subjected to a beating for about 20 minutes. <\/p>\n

After the attack, garda\u00ed took the three men to Tallaght University Hospital. <\/p>\n

The men have since given statements to garda\u00ed in Tallaght. <\/p>\n

Garda Headquarters said an investigation was under way.<\/p>\n

\u201cGarda\u00ed are investigating an assault and criminal damage incident that occurred on Aghfarrell Road in Brittas, Co Dublin, at approximately 2.30pm on Sunday,\u201d An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThree males \u2013 aged late teens, 20s and 30s \u2013 were conveyed to Tallaght University Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Investigations are ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of men from Afghanistan say they were subjected to a beating by a group of more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12686,45,615,61,32652,60,43,7469],"class_list":{"0":"post-171326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-afghanistan","9":"tag-an-garda-siochana","10":"tag-dublin","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-international-protection-accommodation-services-ipas","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-wicklow"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}