{"id":99474,"date":"2025-10-23T15:08:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/99474\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T15:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:08:09","slug":"i-feel-afraid-because-i-have-a-daughter-citywest-hotel-residents-on-two-nights-of-terror-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/99474\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I feel afraid because I have a daughter\u2019 \u2013 Citywest Hotel residents on two nights of terror \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFor some people, it is stressful, very stressful. I am not afraid, but some people are, and children, of course, because they didn\u2019t go to school yesterday,\u201d said Tetiana Alexandra, a 74-year-old from the Donbas in Ukraine<\/a>, who had come out of the Citywest<\/a> centre on Thursday morning following a second successive night of violent rioting<\/a>. <\/p>\n

She has lived at the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS<\/a>) accommodation for the last three years, and said she felt \u201cprotected\u201d as she spoke, pointing to about 20 garda\u00ed who remained stationed at the entrance.<\/p>\n

Standing beside a barricade, she said residents were told to be in the hotel by 2pm on Wednesday for their safety in advance of the second night of protests, which saw more than 20 people arrested.<\/p>\n

A big policing operation<\/a> is set to remain in place over the coming days amid fears the violent scenes<\/a> of Tuesday and Wednesday may be repeated.<\/p>\n

Some of those at the hotel were leaving the grounds for the first time since Tuesday, many returning with full shopping bags.<\/p>\n

Those who spoke to The Irish Times recalled watching footage in their rooms of the clashes between protesters and garda\u00ed as the protests unfolded a short walk away.<\/p>\n

One man from Africa said rumours began to circulate on Wednesday among those accommodated there that protesters at the gates wished to burn the hotel down.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us, we were panicking,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were checking online, you can see online how they were putting on fire the police car and stuff.\u201d <\/p>\n

A woman from Chernihiv in Ukraine, recalled watching videos of \u201cmassive\u201d groups of people from her room, which she shares with her nine-year-old daughter, on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The Citywest riot: 20 photographs capturing the night of violence in SaggartOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so dangerous. I feel afraid, of course, because I have a daughter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A collective decision was made among Ukrainian parents living at the hotel not to send their children to school on Wednesday, she said, over safety concerns.<\/p>\n

Her daughter, who left for school on Thursday morning, is \u201cokay because I am trying to be calm\u201d.<\/p>\n

Two more men, who spoke briefly on returning to the Citywest Hotel, explained they stayed elsewhere with friends on Wednesday in advance of a second night of protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are quite nervous about the people, about the protests. We can\u2019t go outside, it\u2019s a big problem,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n

The first protest on Tuesday night was in response to a foreign man (26) being charged with the alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old Irish girl<\/a> outside the Citywest campus in the early hours of Monday.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Five men remanded on bail and ordered to stay away from Citywest Hotel following unrestOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission<\/a> expressed its deep concern for the wellbeing of the child allegedly assaulted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also express concern about the safety and welfare of those seeking international protection in Citywest and across Ireland. Every person has the right to feel safe here, yet fear is growing within these communities as hate-driven incidents increase,\u201d it said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n

It described violence directed at garda\u00ed as \u201cextremely concerning\u201d, saying: \u201cWere it not for their efforts over recent nights, the situation could have been far worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the nearby village centre, where barricades remained on Thursday morning, there was a deep sense of frustration among locals.<\/p>\n

Business owners were advised to close early on Wednesday afternoon, while some roads were closed and public transport affected.<\/p>\n

Some said the violence could distract from genuine concerns carried by locals about the hotel\u2019s use.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ninety minutes of madness: How the Citywest riot exploded and then was quelledOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

One woman aged in her 30s said she intended to attend what she thought would be a peaceful protest on Tuesday following the \u201cawful\u201d and \u201cshocking\u201d alleged assault.<\/p>\n

She added that frustration has been building locally for some time due to the hotel\u2019s use as IPAS accommodation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are saying the only way to solve it is to burn it down, that\u2019s what I\u2019ve heard a lot of people saying,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She described the scenes on Tuesday and Wednesday night as \u201cdisgusting\u201d, saying: \u201cI think the throwing bottles and fires just makes it look bad on the people of Citywest and Saggart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was embarrassing. I think that\u2019s just teenagers that want trouble,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A man aged in his 50s who has lived in Saggart his entire life said locals \u201cdon\u2019t support violence whatsoever, but it\u2019s too much on a village\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hotel is gone, our conference centre is gone, our gym is nearly gone,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve taken so much away from us and it\u2019s too much.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cFor some people, it is stressful, very stressful. I am not afraid, but some people are, and children,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45,59228,42,32652,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-99474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-citywest-hotel","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-international-protection-accommodation-services-ipas","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99474","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=99474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}