Following the attack, rumours spread online that the perpetrator was a foreign national and that the children had died. Agitators fostered anti-immigrant sentiment, urging people to assemble at the site of the stabbings to "make your feelings known". Unrest started around 6:00 pm GMT, when members of a 100- to 200-strong crowd[7] began throwing fireworks and bottles at the garda? who were maintaining a perimeter around the crime scene.[8]
Rioting progressed to the adjacent O'Connell Street, Dublin's main thoroughfare, where the rioting crowd grew to about 500 people.[9] Buses, a Luas tram, and Garda vehicles were damaged or destroyed by vandalism or arson, and multiple shops were looted. In response, 400 garda? were dispatched, including the largest deployment of riot-gear-armed garda? in Ireland's history.[10] By 10:00 pm GMT, the rioters had been dispersed. Sixty garda? were assaulted during the riot, three of whom sustained serious injuries. Garda? arrested 34 people on the night of 23 November and made further arrests on 24 November, after a smaller group of people attempted to create unrest for a second night in a row. So far, 48 rioters have been arrested.
Widespread domestical and international condemnation of the riots included statements from the president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of France, Emmanuel Macron. The Garda commissioner, Drew Harris, blamed the riot on a "lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology", while the minister for justice, Helen McEntee, stated that "a thuggish and manipulative element must not be allowed to use an appalling tragedy to wreak havoc." Opposition politicians called for the resignations of Harris and McEntee in the wake of the riots. The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, pledged to update legislation relating to hate and incitement, as well as to pass new laws that would enable garda? to make better use of CCTV evidence.