Irish police on Thursday arrested 19 people in Dublin after anti-immigration protesters blocked the main bridge in the capital for hours at peak traffic time.
After clearing the protesters, "a total of nineteen arrests were made as part of today's operation" while no injuries were reported, a police statement said without giving further details.
The bridge blockade during the evening rush hour followed a march by around 500 anti-immigration protesters through central Dublin to the Irish parliament. Security prevented the marchers from approaching the gates of parliament, which reopened Thursday after summer recess.
Counter-protesters at an anti-racism rally jeered at the marchers along the route. "We're not racists, we help genuine refugees, but we have to look after our own Irish people first," one of the lead marchers Brian Garrigan, 57, told AFP while holding a placard reading "Irish Lives Matter".
Ireland has seen rising anti-immigration sentiment in recent years. Last November, central Dublin was engulfed by riots incited by far-right social media accounts following a knife attack on schoolchildren by an Irish citizen from an immigrant background.
The Irish government has been grappling with a surge in asylum-seeker arrivals into Ireland amid a long-running housing shortage.
The number of people seeking asylum in Ireland rose to more than 10,500 in the first six months of 2024, nearly double the rate in the same period last year, according to government data.
Arson attacks have also increased on buildings around Ireland planned for accommodating asylum seekers, with several dozen fires at such properties since 2023. Immigration is expected to feature as a prominent issue in Ireland's looming parliamentary election which must be held by March 2025.