2006 Dublin riots

2006 Dublin riots
Garda Public Order Unit on O'Connell Street
Date	25 February 2006
Location	O'Connell Street, Dublin
Methods	Rioting, looting, arson, assault
Reported injuries
14 hospitalised

A series of riots in Dublin on 25 February 2006 was precipitated by a controversial proposed march down O'Connell Street of a unionist demonstration. The disturbances began when members of the Garda Síochána attempted to disperse a group of counter-demonstrators blocking the route of the proposed march. The situation escalated as local youths joined forces with the counter-demonstrators.

Love Ulster is a Unionist organisation dedicated to commemorating the Unionist victims of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. This was organised in part by Willie Frazer of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR).

This is a group established to voice outrage at the killings by the Republican paramilitary organisations, but it has been criticised for not doing the same for victims of loyalist paramilitary organisations. Frazer had said of loyalist paramilitary prisoners that "They should never have been locked up in the first place", and that he had "a lot of time for Billy Wright."

An example of this alleged attitude is the previous displaying of the picture of an Ulster Volunteer Force member who was allegedly involved, among others, in the murder of 26 people in Dublin in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan Bombings, and who was himself killed by the Provisional IRA in 1976. His picture had appeared at FAIR rallies and an organiser of the Love Ulster demonstration previously told a republican newspaper that he would not guarantee that images of the murder suspect would not be displayed during the demonstration.

The Love Ulster march in Dublin was to consist of a uniformed band, several hundred activists (including some from the Orange Order) and relatives of victims, all of whom would march from Parnell Street north of the River Liffey, down O'Connell Street, past Trinity College onto Nassau Street, Dawson Street and Molesworth Street, and eventually reaching Leinster House, the seat of the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament), on Kildare Street.