“Irish Lives Matter” has been deemed a racist slogan by Ireland’s police, as well as a politician who previously advocated on behalf of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The slogan was spray painted onto a fence in the Tildarg Avenue area, which is located in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Inspector Andrew Matson said police have not found the individual(s) responsible for the signs and graffiti.
Irish Lives Matter slogan is being treated as a hate crime
“We are treating the matter as a hate incident,” he said.
Other signs were also posted onto lamp poles, with one reading that the town “”will no longer accept the re-housing of illegal immigrants.”
West Belfast MLA Gerry Carroll, a left-wing socialist, also called the incident “racist poison.”
“We are under no illusions that ‘Irish Lives Matter’ is a racist slogan which is directly counterpoised to movements against the oppression faced by black people and other ethnic minorities,” he said.
Just a few short years ago, Carroll had a completely different take on the Black Lives Matter slogan, after BLM protesters were issued fines — that were later dropped — after breaking COVID health restrictions.
Ireland has faced a wave of anti-immigrant protests since 2022 with social media hashtags such as #IrelandisFull, #IrelandSaysNO, #IrelandForTheIrish and #MakeIrelandSafeAgain being used.
As of March, Ireland is housing about 74,000 asylum applicants, which has risen by about 68,000 since the previous year.
Last week Dublin was in a state of unrest when a stabbing of children occurred outside a school
Last week, the streets of Dublin were in a state of unrest following a shocking stabbing incident outside an elementary school allegedly carried out by an Algerian migrant.
The assailant stabbed three children and two adults, leaving a five-year-old girl and a woman in her 30s seriously injured.
Irish police say a man in his 50s, who was also hospitalized with serious injuries, is a “person of interest.” The motive is not known at this time.
Irish citizens furious over the nation’s immigration policy have taken to the streets in the aftermath of the horrific scene. One video reportedly shows an immigration centre being set on fire with a flaming dumpster.
