The Crown Paints site in Coolock, Dublin, which has been earmarked as an asylum centre, has gone up in flames again.
The site, which was previously the scene of several anti-immigrant protests, saw a fire break out in a storage container located beside the main building.
Gardaí and Dublin Fire Brigade rushed to the scene on Wednesday evening to tackle the blaze and start an investigation into its source. There were no reports of any injuries at the site.
A Garda spokesman confirmed that there had been a "public order incident" at the premises on the Malahide Road, Coolock.
A planning exemption was granted earlier this month by Dublin City Council to allow the site to be used as accommodation for International Protection applicants (IPAs).
Local groups reacted by reiterating their determination to prevent the project from going ahead.
Planned asylum centre site
The site has already experienced several fires and serious clashes between gardaí and protesters, with 30 arrests made during one incident in July last year.
More than 20 suspects were charged and brought before the courts, many for alleged public order offences and failure to comply with Garda directions to move on.
July 15, 2024: A digger that was set on fire at the former Crown Paints site in Coolock, Dublin. (RollingNews.ie)
A protest camp, which was on private grounds outside the former paint factory, had been established in March to block workers from renovating the property.
July 17, 2024: A barricade at the former Crown Paints site in Coolock, Dublin. (RollingNews.ie)
The protests escalated after gardaí began to clear the protesters’ camp in July and move in construction equipment and materials, as well as security personnel.
Petrol bombs were thrown and an excavator was destroyed by fire.
July 15, 2024: Garda presence at the Crown Paints site in Coolock, Dublin. (RollingNews.ie)
That same month, the High Court agreed to order an injunction, preventing "persons unknown" from engaging in threatening or intimidating behaviour at the factory or interfering with employees or contractors as they carried out their work.
The High Court was told that drones may have been used to deliver petrol bombs to locations close to the former factory, to be collected by unknown individuals.
It was reported that the repeated fires were a setback to efforts to ready the former factory as accommodation for about 500 IPAs.
*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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