Gardaí deploy pepper spray against pro-Palestine protestors at Dublin Port

A group of peaceful protestors demonstrating near the Dublin Port Tunnel were subjected to pepper-spraying (with what is known officially as 'incapacitant spray') by gardaí over the weekend.

The description 'incapacitant spray' comes from its ability to physically incapacitate individuals who are sprayed with the chemical.

The demonstrators had broken off from Saturday's National March for Palestine, moving from O'Connell Street towards the Port, to protest against the transportation of Israeli goods into or through Ireland.

Dorothy Collins, an activist with Dubs For Palestine and the Kildare Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said the gardaí followed the protestors and attempted to block their way. When the protestors arrived near the Port end of the Port Tunnel, Collins said a cordon was waiting for them.

"They started pushing and shoving people," Collins told Hot Press at the time.

"I was actually trying to ask one of them to stop shoving my friend onto the ground, and then the pepper spray just came at me. They pepper-sprayed scores of us. I put in a call for ambulances to come down, because scores of people were on the ground screaming with their eyes pepper-sprayed."

Dozens were incapacitated, with blurred vision, swollen eyes, difficulty breathing and burns to the skin for up to an hour after the initial incident.

A demonstrator showing where her skin was burned from being pepper-sprayed at a protest near the Dublin Port on October 4, 2025. Photo: Chloe Craft/hotpress.com

Other demonstrators used homemade remedies such as milk, vinegar and saline solution to treat the symptoms.

The Garda Code allows for the use of Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) dispersed from a handheld canister if absolutely necessary, as long as it is not used at a distance of less than one metre. The Garda have since confirmed in a statement that pepper spray was deployed on October 4.

Anna Verbiest, a student on an exchange program from Belgium, was among the protestors who were pepper-sprayed at close range.

"We were saying, 'This is humane action, we don't want to break anything, we don't want to fight,'" Verbiest told Hot Press. "But then they blocked us and started with the pepper-spray. Now everybody has difficulty seeing, and some people cannot walk."

The full crowd of around 150 demonstrators included older people, students and people with disabilities.

Demonstrators after being pepper-sprayed at a protest near the Dublin Port on October 4, 2025. Photo: Chloe Craft/hotpress.com

Collins said she was shocked to see such brutality against peaceful protesters, saying, "We're just regular people, we're not armed, yet they're here with all their gear."

"I had gone up to talk to all of these gardaí because these people are supposed to represent us," Collins said. "They're called An Garda Síochána: the guardians of the peace. But who do they serve? I am a 53-year-old Irish citizen, and they pepper-sprayed me for doing nothing but asking my government not to be complicit in genocide any longer. This is not my country, if these are the people who are supposed to protect me."

Verbiest echoed her sentiments. "I don't know what the police are for," she said, "but they're definitely not defending any people. Not the Irish people, not the Palestinian people."

Verbiest added that while she was familiar with the solidarity between the Irish and Palestinian peoples given their shared history of colonisation, but she was surprised by the lack of action by the government. "There is a lot of solidarity," she said of the Government's response, "but not a lot happening, a lot of talk but not a lot of action.

"In Belgium and in Dublin it is quite the same how they react to everything, they do like this," said Verbiest, covering her eyes with her hands.

"They cover their eyes for everything. It's just fucking upsetting. We see the police now laughing and smiling. It's just disgraceful to see."

A demonstrator being treated after being pepper-sprayed at a protest near the Dublin Port on October 4, 2025. Photo: Chloe Craft/hotpress.com

Collins explained that the protestors were following the example of a range of demonstrators and groups across Europe, including the dock workers in Italy who blocked ports in solidarity with Palestine last week.

She said it was particularly important to protest in Dublin, given that Ireland is Israel's second-largest trade partner.

Despite the scene in Dublin on Saturday, Collins said there were no plans to stop demonstrating.

"As I said to one of the gardaí there, the genocide isn't stopping, so we're not stopping," Collins said.

"This can never stop as long as we are seeing the slaughter of Palestinians. And as I said to them, they have got to decide which side they are on. Because they're on the goddamn wrong side of history right now."

Demonstrators after being pepper-sprayed at a protest near the Dublin Port on October 4, 2025. Photo: Chloe Craft/hotpress.com

The gardaí released a statement on Sunday in which they said they engaged with the protestors to disperse in "a voluntary manner", but when protestors did not disperse, they deployed an "escalation of response." They reportedly arrested two people during the incident.

"Members of the Garda National Public Order Unit, dressed in 'soft cap' uniform, supported by frontline uniformed Gardaí, intervened to prevent a breach of the Garda cordon which included the use of incapacitant spray on protesters," the statement read.

A legal observer on site told demonstrators that the gardaí were acting under the legal clause of "preserving peace and public order," based on the fact that blocking traffic to the Port is illegal.

In a press release this morning, Dublin City Councillor Conor Reddy of People Before Profit said he was present during the incident – which he said "shows once again that the Irish state is not on the side of the Palestine solidarity movement."

Reddy called for an investigation into "completely unacceptable Garda violence against peaceful protestors." He said that People Before Profit are urging the Minister for Justice to address the situation.

People Before Profit posted a statement this afternoon, confirming they have written a letter to the Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil, Verona Murphy, and the Dáil Business Committee, to request a Dáil debate on the matter.

"The movement at home and internationally should be under no illusion that our State is complicit and willing to apply violent force to maintain its complicity and is by no means above the scale of repressions we’ve seen in other countries at the heart of Israel’s global supply-chain for its genocide," the statement read.