An Irish politician said those who were involved in the Dublin riots should be “shot in the head.”
The riots occurred after an Algerian immigrant stabbed several people, including children.
Limerick City and County Council (LCCC) member Abu Kalam Azad Talukder, an immigrant from Bangladesh, commented on the riots.
“I strongly believe that this is not the face of Ireland. This is just some criminals looting the shops. I don’t think they follow any ideological purpose,” he said, “They come to the streets and just rob. They should get punishment.”
“Not even an animal does these kinds of things. It is very shameful and they should get public punishment. I’d like to see them shot in the head or bring the public in and beat them until they die.”
Labour Party councillor Conor Sheehan urged for the comment to the withdrawn, to which Talukder responded, “Okay, I can withdraw that. I just put my emotion only. I hope Conor Sheehan understands that is only an expression of my emotion.”
The comments follow Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar calling for legislation criminalizing “hate speech.”
“We’ll modernize our laws against incitement to hatred and hatred in general – and that is more required than ever was the case before,” Varadkar said. “I think it’s now very obvious to anyone who might have doubted it that our incitement to hatred legislation is just not up to date, it’s just not up to date for the social media age. We need that legislation through, we need it through within a matter of weeks.”
Irish Senator Pauline O’Reilly acknowledged that the legislation restricts freedom, but she said the government is “restricting freedom, but we’re doing it for the common good.”
