A brawl in the heart of Dublin\u2019s tourism district led to a nightclub promoter being chased and stabbed to death.<\/p>\n
It happened at about 3am on Monday after a gig ended in the Grafton Street area of the city centre that is popular with tourists.<\/p>\n
Qayyum Balogun, 21, was chased and stabbed on nearby Clarendon Street after a clash between rival groups, police said. He was taken to St James\u2019s hospital where he was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n
Sections of the shopping district remained closed on Monday as forensic teams examined the area.<\/p>\n
Balogun was reportedly from Nigeria and promoted music gigs in the city centre. Police believe the dispute started in a venue and spilled on to the street. The Irish Independent reported<\/a> that a female bystander who was not connected to rival groups sustained stab wounds that were not life threatening.<\/p>\n Irish police are reviewing CCTV footage and awaiting the results of a postmortem examination. They have appealed for witnesses. The justice minister, Jim O\u2019Callaghan, offered condolences to Balogun\u2019s family.<\/p>\n Father John Grennan, the prior of St Teresa\u2019s Carmelite church on Clarendon Street, voiced his shock at the death. \u201cI want to offer our compassion and prayers for what happened here,\u201d he told RT\u00c9.<\/p>\n Rory Hogan, a Fianna F\u00e1il councillor, said the violence was deeply disturbing. \u201cIncidents like these have profound impacts not only on the victim\u2019s family but also on the wider communities.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Hogan added that crime rates in Ireland\u2019s capital had fallen and the city was safer than it used to be. \u201cWe need to be sure to separate the emotional reaction to an incident like this to the overall statistics,\u201d he said. National murder rates fell by a quarter last year.<\/p>\n Police are also investigating a separate incident in which a man in his 30s entered the River Liffey after being assaulted on Saturday night in the Islandbridge area of Dublin. He was pronounced dead on Sunday.<\/p>\n