Two arrested in Dublin riots investigation

Two men are being questioned about their roles in the riots in Dublin last November during which cars and buses were burned out, shops were looted and millions of euro worth of damage caused.

The two men, one aged 18, the other in his 20s, are being detained at Store Street Garda Station and can be questioned for up to 24 hours.

They have been arrested on suspicion of committing multiple offences including criminal damage, public order, theft and affray.

One is suspected to have burned out a garda car.

It brings to 36 the total number arrested so far, 24 of whom have already been charged and brought before the courts, mainly with public order offences.

Since the riots in Dublin city centre on 23 November last, a team of gardaí have been reviewing over 17,000 hours of CCTV footage of multiple criminal incidents.

Violence broke out following a knife attack near a school on Parnell Square East in which a woman and three children were injured.

Garda cars, a Luas and a bus were burned out, gardaí were attacked, one lost a toe, shops were vandalised and looted, and millions of euro worth of damage was caused.

Gardaí now believe they have identified more than a dozen suspects for the most serious crimes.

Most were masked and had hoods up but have been tracked on CCTV and their actions recorded in various parts of the city. Some committed multiple offences.

Searches were also carried out in the south inner city before two men, an 18-year-old and a man in his 20s were arrested.

The older man is being questioned about a number of offences including the burning out of a garda car on Parnell Street.

The teenager is being interviewed about criminal damage, affray, theft and public order offences. He is believed to have been tracked on CCTV in a number of places in the city that night, including in shops that were looted.

They can be detained for up to 24 hours before they must be released or charged.

Detectives estimate there are approximately 1.5 billion frames of footage to be viewed by the investigation team and further arrests are expected.

All the footage has to be viewed manually under current legislation, although the Government has signalled its intention to introduce legislation to allow for the introduction of Facial Recognition Technology

Gardaí say they expect further arrests and charges and are appealing to anyone with information about the events on that day or anyone involved in organising or participating in these events to contact the garda investigation team at Store Street Garda Station at 01 666 8000, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111, or any garda station.