An alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl near the Citywest Hotel early on Monday morning triggered shock and anger across social media.
The hotel, in Saggart Co Dublin, was recently purchased by the State to be used to accommodate Ukrainian migrants and asylum seekers.
A 26-year-old man, who cannot be named because of the nature of the case, was charged on Tuesday in connection with the alleged assault.
Within 24 hours of the initial reports, outrage online had escalated into unrest and violent clashes with gardaí outside the complex, disorder that the officer leading the policing operation said was "orchestrated and pre-planned online".
This timeline focuses on how that online mobilisation unfolded, from the first posts about the case to the eruption of violence outside Citywest.
Monday
Social media analysis by RTÉ shows that one of the first mentions online that something significant happened at or near the Citywest Hotel complex on Monday morning occurred at 8.25am.
"Just another day in Citywest. Crime scene tape at the entrance and inside the grounds this morning," read one post on X alongside a photograph, which was later viewed more than 136,000 times.
Throughout the morning and afternoon, multiple social media users posted, speculating what might have happened.
At 1.20pm, media reports made the nature of the incident clear — with DublinLive reporting that a "man has been arrested after the alleged assault of a girl in Citywest today."
This, along with other media coverage, sparked a flurry of posts about the incident and about the Citywest accommodation centre more broadly.
The complex has become a flashpoint, particularly since it was announced that the State planned to buy it with a view to turning it into a permanent international protection accommodation centre.
'Stop Citywest Hotel' a protest group led by local Saggart residents and activists formed in opposition to the move, has been organising peaceful demonstrations on a regular basis in recent months.
Across the summer, they staged several protests, including on the M7 and N11, where drivers slowed traffic to draw attention to what they described as the State’s "unwanted" plan for the hotel.
The purchase was completed for €148 million in September of this year.
At 3pm on Monday, the group posted a call for a "peaceful protest and rally" to be held at 7pm that evening, saying it would show support for the victim of the alleged assault and raise local safety concerns.
For several hours before the planned rally, few further details about the incident emerged — until 7pm when a journalist posted on X, giving details of the alleged attacker’s background and the nature of the allegation, and adding that the alleged victim has been in the care of Tusla.
The post has since been viewed 1.2 million times, and in the hour after it was posted social media mentions of Citywest spiked by 143%, rising from 527 in the previous hour to 1,280.
While social media commentary intensified on Monday night, the planned protest outside Citywest went ahead without any major incidents. Gardaí were present at the scene throughout.
One attendee, speaking to anti-immigration livestreamer, Philip Dwyer, said they were "hoping a lot more people will turn up," the following evening.
At 8pm on Monday night, Dublin City Councillor Malachy Steenson posted about the incident, calling for calm — but also for the country to be brought to a "standstill," if the allegations turned out to be true.
Shortly after 8pm, a post from Paul Nolan, who was jailed last month for online posts which risked identifying asylum seekers, appeared on X calling for Citywest "to be stormed, and every last migrant deported."
His post has since been removed for violating the platform guidelines, but it illustrates how online rhetoric was becoming increasingly extreme as Monday evening wore on.
At 8.51pm further details about the background of the man allegedly responsible for the attack were published by journalists. As the man has since been charged, these details are now subjudice and cannot be rereported.
At 9.42pm, Sinne na Daoine, an anti-immigration group that claims to have set up "community watch" plans across the country, posted a notice to Facebook that was then reposted across other social media platforms.
The post said "Citywest residents are calling on support for a public assembly in reaction a sexual assault on a minor on the grounds." It asked people to attend Citywest Hotel at 7.30pm the following night.
As the evening wore on, the incident began to attract international attention. One post on X, published at 10.16pm by a prominent anti-immigration influencer based in the south of the country, was viewed more than 12 million times.
The account has been posting prolifically about Citywest in recent days, with most of its other posts averaging around 53,000 views. The difference with this one was that, at 10.46pm, it was reposted by X owner Elon Musk.
Musk’s tweet received 37,000 reposts.
Other prominent international figures like founder of the English Defence League Tommy Robinson also posted on X about the incident on Monday evening.
By the end of Monday night, what began as local anger was getting attention across the world online, with millions of views and escalating calls for action.
Tuesday
By Tuesday morning, more details had emerged about the alleged assault.
A statement from Tusla confirmed the alleged victim had been in state care since February, after her family voluntarily placed her there. It said she had "absconded" while on a recreational trip with staff to Dublin city centre.
Staff then reported her missing to Gardaí. She later returned to a relative’s home but left again that evening.
She subsequently told staff she had been involved in a serious incident, after which her location was established and Gardaí were contacted.
Posts on social media about the case continued to ramp up in terms of views and reach, spreading rapidly across platforms, in Ireland and abroad.
At 7.25am, the UK-based online outlet UNN, which frequently publishes anti-immigration content, shared a post from Monday night, saying "Republic of Ireland set to erupt. Can you blame them?"
Speaking to reporters a short time later, Tánaiste Simon Harris called the alleged assault of a 10-year-old girl "horrifying" and appealed for calm following the incident.
By 11am, the man accused of attacking the young girl was charged.
At 11.37am, members of the National Party, a right-wing political group posted on X from outside the court.
"We encourage people to attend tonight's protest at the Citywest plantation centre," the post said.
As the afternoon wore on various accounts from across the world began promoting attendance at the protest.
"Join the massive protest tonight at Citywest Hotel in Dublin, Ireland, 7:30pm. The city's residents are asking for everyone to attend. This is how you get your country back," wrote Don Keith — a US-based commentator and self-described American patriot - at 2.51pm Irish time. He was one of many.
Similar posts continued to proliferate online in the hours that followed. At 6.13pm, the local protest group ‘Stop Citywest Hotel’ took the decision to post on X calling for calm.
"Tonight's protest at 7.30 will be peaceful, we need to keep the focus on the real issues and not give the government or media the distraction from the assault they so desperately need," the post read.
Despite those calls, video posted in the evening showed people had already begun gathering near the entrance to the complex.
At around 6.40pm, a livestreamer on YouTube walked with a small group of protesters up the complex’s main driveway on Garter Lane.
Metal barriers were set up at the top of the driveway and around ten uniformed Gardaí were there.
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The Citywest complex has several entrances, and throughout the evening protesters moved between these access points as Gardaí formed lines and erected barriers.
Several voices could be heard shouting at the gardaí. At various points they were called ‘Traitor bastards,’ or accused of protecting paedophiles, or rapists.
By 6.50pm, more uniformed gardaí had arrived, as more protesters walked up the driveway towards the barriers, which are around 140 metres from the main road.
Around the same time, Luas operations between Belgard and Saggart, which serve the area the protest was planned for, were suspended.
By around 7pm, the group at the barriers had grown significantly.
Ideas were spreading through the gathered crowd by that point. A livestreamer could be heard saying "I don’t know what the plan is but hopefully we go through the barrier."
Despite that, families and children can also be seen in the footage. Several masked men on horseback then rode up towards the barriers, and back down towards the entrance on Garter Lane, where another smaller crowd had gathered.
At around 7.10pm, Philip Dwyer, who had also been at the scene on Monday, started livestreaming.
"If you’re a man and this is your area, your locality, come out. You should be ashamed of yourself if you’re sitting on your arse," he said.
By 7.15pm, cars in traffic on Garter Lane were being held up by growing crowds, including masked teenagers on horseback. Most protesters had now coalesced outside the main entrance.
Ten minutes later, the crowd moved towards the metal barriers and uniformed officers at the top of the driveway. Some individuals started pushing against the metal barriers.
Within seconds, a Public Order Unit (POU) arrived and the uniformed gardaí moved back behind their line.
Garda bodyworn camera footage was later released and showed this exchange happened at exactly 7.28pm.
At around 7.30pm, large crowds were visible near the barriers in a livestream published by Philip Dwyer. "The anger here is unreal," he said, "is this the straw that will break the camel’s back?"
Chants of ‘Get Them Out’ could be heard. Fireworks were being directed at the POU, past the metal barriers.
Members of the POU began walking towards the crowd, past the barriers.
The crowd then retreated and started moving back towards the main entrance on Garter Lane.
By 7.45pm the crowd was outside the main entrance to the Citywest complex where a long line of POU officers were in place.
Some of the crowd then moved down the road to the next gate, where a Garda van was parked. People began throwing stones at the van and started smashing the windows and windscreen with traffic cones. Within minutes a fire had been started in the van.
In footage posted online, children can be seen smashing the headlights with hammers, a woman tells the boy "cover your face."
Within minutes the van was completely engulfed in flames. There was no garda presence visible around the vehicle.
People were still arriving from outside the area.
At 8pm, prominent nationalist influencer Keith Woods posted from the protest. Standing in front of the burning Garda van, he told his followers: "Things are massively kicking off here. There’s probably well over 1,000 protesters... things are really reaching boiling point here."
Back at the main entrance, an Irish Times journalist posted footage at 8.31pm showing people in the crowd hurling dozens of glass bottles at the POU officers. Separate footage posted to TikTok showed a large red recycling bin filled with glass bottles had been brought to the main entrance, its contents were being thrown at gardaí.
By 9pm, another line of the POU officers had arrived, along with a water cannon. The crowd at the main entrance began to disperse. Some ran towards Saggart Luas stop.
By this point, one of several people livestreaming was BB Audits, a UK-based YouTuber who films protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers. The stream had 174,000 views. He said to viewers he had flown in and was staying in a hotel.
The POU charged again at the crowd at 9.20pm on Citywest Drive, past Saggart Luas stop. By 10pm the POU had formed a long line across the top of Citywest Drive and the crowd, now dispersing, had been pushed back towards Citywest Avenue.
BB Audits was not the only figure from outside Ireland to come to produce content of the protest. Ezra Levant, a content creator for the Canadian far-right media website Rebel News with more than 500k followers on X, travelled to Dublin specifically for the protest along with a camera operator.
He said he was pepper-sprayed and set upon from behind while covering the event. In a video posted to Rebel News after the protest he said: "There’s terrible things going on here in Ireland, being done to the people, but there’s also some hopefulness of people fighting back."
Like some of the other livestreamers who attended, Mr Levant encourages viewers to donate to fund his work.
Mr Levant said he loves "telling the story" of Ireland to Irish and north American audiences and has been to Ireland six times in two years.
Throughout the day on Tuesday, other influential right-wing figures from outside Ireland had been posting about the alleged assault.
Tommy Robinson posted several times — just before midday he posted about the alleged assault and later, he posted videos of the protest.
One post just after 9pm was captioned "Bricks and bottles rain down on Gardaí who stand guarding the entrance to the Citywest IPAS centre, which is filled with invaders...The Irish have had enough!"
By 11pm, US commentator Jack Posobiec, who has promoted various types of disinformation and conspiracies in the past, and has been described as ‘MAGA’s Next Top Influencer’ reposted a video to his more than 3 million X followers. "The Irish are rising up," he said.
Wednesday
As clean-up crews took to the streets on Wednesday morning, it was reported that five men had been charged with public order offences related to Tuesday's unrest — they will appear in court again in November to enter pleas.
In a statement, Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said a further gathering outside Citywest had been proposed on social media for Wednesday night and warned that they would act "robustly" against anyone involved in violent disorder.
In anticipation of further protests, fencing was erected on the perimeter of the Citywest complex at around 3pm, and it was announced that some public transport links would be suspended again.
When the protests eventually got underway, the number of people in attendance appeared to be significantly lower than on Tuesday evening, estimated at around 200.
But there were still reports of unrest, with missiles and fireworks thrown at gardaí. A total of 24 people, including five juveniles, were arrested.
Seventeen people have since been charged with public order offences.
Around 100 people gathered for a demonstration at the entrance to the complex again on Thursday evening. It ended peacefully after an organiser called for protesters to disperse at around 9.30pm.
Within Saggart, concern and distrust remained. Rumours were circulated in local WhatsApp groups about various unoccupied buildings in the town, which locals speculated could soon be turned into additional migrant accommodation sites.
The speculation appeared to be based only upon the concern that the buildings are currently not in use.
