A GROUP OF Afghan asylum seekers have told of how they were followed by men on motorcycles before being subjected to an alleged attack in rural Co Dublin.
The attack on the three young men – which saw the men beaten and their car windows smashed – has been condemned.
The incident happened yesterday afternoon as the trio travelled from their international protection accommodation at a former army camp in Kilbride near the Sally Gap mountain pass to a shop in Tallaght.
One of the men travelling in the car told The Journal that they were “followed” by two men on motorbikes after stopping for petrol.
The 19-year-old said these motorbikes were being driven “very fast”, and that this unusual behaviour continued until they reached the village of Brittas, Co Dublin at around 2.30pm yesterday.
After stopping the car in the village, he alleged that they came under attack.
“They started punching us, I was punched in the stomach,” the teenager said. “My friend was punched in the head by them.”
The young man described how they were saved thanks to the intervention of two women who came on the scene and raised the alarm, leading to the alleged attackers to leave.
“They were shouting at them, telling them to go – we’re very grateful for their help,” he said.
“We were frightened for our lives,” the teenager said.
It’s understood gardaí attended the scene yesterday, with a full complaint made this morning with officers in Tallaght over the incident in Brittas.
The Garda Press Office has been contacted for comment.
One local man who came on the scene and helped the men described the scene to The Journal after the incident.
“One of the guys was covered in blood after it, he was very badly beaten. Another guy was getting sick afterwards. These are such young guys,” this man said.
The locals who came on the scene brought the men to Tallaght University Hospital where they received some treatment before being let go later in the evening.
The incident in Brittas has been condemned by People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who represents the Dublin South-West constituency where Brittas is based.
Murphy said it was a “vicious” and “unprovoked” incident that forms part of a “growing pattern” of premeditated racist, anti-immigrant attacks.
The deputy blamed the tilt towards “anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric” from senior Government figures for “contributing to an increasingly hostile environment” for asylum seekers and immigrants.
“The cynical attempts to divert blame for Government failures onto some of the most vulnerable in our society have serious and potentially deadly consequences for which Government Ministers using anti-immigrant rhetoric hold responsibility,” Murphy added.
