By Chinedu Onyejelem

Six young people from new Irish communities were arrested for various offences following a disturbance at a New Year’s party in Tallaght.

But there are contradictory eyewitness accounts of what led to the arrests at Plaza Hotel’s Show Nightclub on 2 January.

Metro Éireann understands that hundreds of young people, mainly from black African communities, turned up at the club – which is believed can only accommodate 300 people without pre-booked tickets. 

One eyewitness said security at the club tried to arrange the more than 700 young people into a queue but were unsuccessful. Subsequently, the nightclub cancelled the event and called the Garda over unruly behaviour.

The eyewitness added that when gardaí arrived, they were attacked by a small number of youths when they asked the crowd to disperse.

Metro Éireann was informed by another eyewitness that the gardaí on scene were “heavy-handed” in policing the crowd, arresting a number of black youths who did not pose a threat. 

The source added that the organisers of the club night did not sell tickets prior to the event.

At press time, the Plaza Hotel has not responded to queries over the incident.

However, one man named by partygoers as the organiser of the night told Metro Éireann that he was only assisting the event’s promoters. 

Over several phone calls and social media messages, he attempted to discourage Metro Éireann from running this story, accusing this newspaper of not supporting Africans in Ireland.

He also completely denied knowledge of any arrests at the event: “It’s a misunderstanding and that all sorted now. Noting to do with race... and if they were arrested do you not think there was a reason for that plus I don’t know if anyone arrested. This is the first I am hearing about this [sic].”

Meanwhile, the Garda gave a statement to Metro Eireann which confirmed that “gardai and security attempted to remove persons from the vicinity of the entrance due to the large number of persons therein and the crowd discomfort that was being experienced by some of these persons.

“The vast majority of the persons in attendance obeyed the directions and moved on from the area. During the course of this incident, six persons were arrested for various offences.”

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