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A man was arrested on Halloween night after an object was thrown at a Garda vehicle attending the scene of the illegal fires in North Dublin.
The man, in his 30s, was arrested shortly after midnight in the Belcamp area after the windshield of a Garda patrol van was damaged, according to a Garda spokesman.
“Gardaí from the National Public Order Unit was on proactive patrol in the Belcamp area at the time responding to reports of riots involving a group of youths and illegal fires when the incident occurred,” the spokesperson said.
“The man was quickly arrested and no member of the Garda was injured.”
The Dublin Fire Brigade said firefighters from Kilbarrack station were called in to put out four burning cars in Belcamp.
“We are working closely with gardaí on the scene,” he tweeted in the early hours of Sunday. It is understood the cars that were cars at the end of their useful life that had been left in the area.
It was a “busy Halloween” for the Dublin Fire Brigade, which said no injuries were reported to its paramedics or firefighters when the night shift ended Sunday morning.
Firefighters were called to several fires and fireworks incidents Saturday night, though few with antisocial behavior.
“So far tonight, most fires have required no intervention and our teams have experienced very little antisocial behavior,” he tweeted shortly after 10:30 pm on Saturday.
Firefighters attended the bonfires in Phibsborough, where the video showed a large number of fireworks.
Earlier in the evening, trains were temporarily stopped on Dublin’s north side after greenery adjacent to the property was set ablaze by fireworks in Harmonstown.
Before Halloween this year, concerns had been raised about an increase in the use of fireworks, prompting the gardaí to implement Operation Tombolo, its Halloween police initiative, earlier than normal.
At 8:30 p.m., firefighters and paramedics had treated four people for injuries to their hands, eyes and face resulting from the fireworks.
“Fireworks are really dangerous and unfortunately we always see injuries on Halloween night,” tweeted the Dublin Fire Brigade.
North Ireland
Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, fire crews were attacked with fireworks and missiles during two separate incidents on Halloween night.
The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Department reported an increase of more than 20 percent in emergency calls and responses on Saturday night despite strict Covid-19 public health measures being implemented throughout the region.
The crews dealt with hostile members of the public by launching missiles, including fireworks, as they responded to two calls.
The crew members were forced to withdraw for “security reasons” in one of the incidents. No one was injured.
A spokesman for the service said it received 83 emergency calls and responded to a total of 62 incidents between 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 a.m. Sunday.
This equates to a 22 percent increase over the same period last year. Eighteen of these incidents were related to bonfires. – Additional reporting PA
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