Three young children were among five people injured in a knife attack in Dublin on Thursday that sparked riots in the city centre and which police have not yet ruled out any motive over, including whether it could be terror-related.
Irish police have arrested 34 people after rioting by a "hooligan faction" caused chaos in Dublin last night.
Public transport was suspended and patients advised not to travel to a nearby maternity hospital unless absolutely necessary after clashes between riot police and anti-immigrant protesters, who arrived at the scene of the attack beside the main thoroughfare of O`Connell Street.
Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar said about 500 people were involved in the riot.
He said they "brought shame" on Ireland and he promised new laws within weeks to bring those involved to justice.
Two of the five people injured in the stabbings outside a primary school on Parnell Square are critically ill.
They include a five-year-old girl and a school care assistant who "used her body as a shield" in an attempt to protect children from the attacker.
Just hours after the stabbings, rioters destroyed 11 police vehicles, while 13 shops were badly damaged and more were looted during the clashes with police.
Three buses and a tram were also destroyed and several police officers were injured during over three hours of sustained violence.
`Hateful assumptions`
Ireland`s police chief Drew Harris blamed the rioting on a "lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology".
The "extraordinary outbreak of violence" had come after "hateful assumptions" were made based on material circulating online in the wake of the stabbings, he added.
It is understood that included false claims that the attacker was a foreign national.
Sources have indicated to the BBC that the man suspected of carrying out the attack is an Irish citizen in his late 40s who has lived in the country for 20 years.
"These are scenes that we have not seen in decades," said the An Garda Síochána (Irish police force) commissioner.
"What is clear is that people have been radicalised through social media."
Thirty-two people have since appeared in court in Dublin in connection with the riot.
The accused, who include 28 men and four women, face charges including weapons offences, public order offences and theft of items such as clothing and cigarettes.
