Up to 50 asylum seekers turned away from Mount Street and left without accommodation hours after ‘tent city’ cleared

There were chaotic scenes as crowds rushed to board a bus taking international protection applicants to accommodation in Swords, Co Dublin, shortly after 5pm.

Scuffles broke out during the rush to get a seat on the bus, prompting gardaí to step in. IPO staff pleaded with the men to stop pushing in to the bus as the situation on the crowded pavement was becoming dangerous.

Those who did not make it onto the bus were directed back to a holding area that had been erected outside the front door of the IPO.

As the staff closed the doors of the IPO at 6pm, a crowd of up to 50 men who had been waiting outside to be processed were turned away.

They were told there was no accommodation for the night, that the office was closed and they could come back in the morning.

The Government has said such encampments will not be allowed to develop in the city again. The move to clear the tents and send the men to accommodation centres outside the city comes amid a row with the UK government, which says it will refuse to take back asylum-seekers who have travelled through its territory, despite claims from Justice Minister Helen McEntee and other ministers that 80pc of claimants are coming across the border from Northern Ireland.

Among the men left homeless last night was 30-year-old Imran Nasir, who arrived in Ireland on March 27. Mr Nasir, who is seeking asylum, said he fled Afghanistan after being targeted by the Taliban.

He had been staying in the tent city on Mount Street until Tuesday night when he was taken in by someone who had a free couch for the night. When he returned yesterday morning, his tent had been removed and all his friends were gone.

“They were taken to Crooksling and Citywest,” said Mr Nasir. “I want to go there too and I came today to queue for the bus but they have told me there is no accommodation tonight.

Gardai remove 200 asylum seekers from Mount Street on coaches

“My tent is gone so I will have to wander the streets. I might go to the park and sleep there.”

In a statement on Wednesday evening, a Government spokesperson said: “State agencies this morning engaged with all those who were present on Mount Street and offered them accommodation. Just under, 290 people have now been accommodated.

“Following this, it is understood that a number of IPAs who are believed to have been staying at other locations sought accommodation at Citywest, which is now at capacity. Their details have been taken and they will be offered accommodation as it becomes available.”

From early morning yesterday, barriers were erected across Mount Street at the canal end and at Merrion Square at the other end.

Traffic cones were also placed across the roads and large electronic signs flashed two messages – “Garda” and “Road closed”.

More barriers were placed at side streets preventing people from getting onto Mount Street via shortcuts while gardaí were placed at each entry point to turn away motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

Only those working in businesses on the street were allowed access, apart from a handful who were returning bicycles from the Dublin Bikes scheme to the station near the canal.

In the middle of Lower Mount Street, a row of coaches could be seen parked and in front of them a row of large work vehicles which were used to remove tents, sleeping bags and waste.

Car horns blared as frustrated commuters tried to find a way around the diversion, and cyclists and pedestrians had to quickly find new routes to work in order to get around the roadblock.

About 7am, officials could be seen going from tent to tent with clipboards in their hands.

People were given a sheet of paper with a message in different languages explaining they were going to be moved from the street to be offered “accommodation”, that they did not have permission to stay in the area and that they could not return to stay there.

Several men emerged from their tents and packed their belongings before they began boarding buses. It was reported they did not know where they were going.

At 7.45am, two gardaí on motorbikes arrived from the canal end of Mount Street and positioned themselves close to the coaches.

At 8.12am, the first two coaches of migrants were given a garda escort from the scene, headed for Citywest or Crooksling.

At 8.29am two more gardaí on motorbikes arrived and at 9am they escorted two more coaches away.

Then workers moved in to begin a clean-up, which included removal of tents, bedding and belongings left behind.

The streets and laneways were washed with power hoses.

For 60 weeks, apart from two brief periods, the tents had been in place in varying numbers.

The first tent was pitched close to the entrance of the IPO in early March last year, before more arrived. Numbers grew for around six months, and the tents were then briefly cleared.

In mid-December tents were pitched again and the numbers swelled until mid-March when the occupants were moved to the grounds of the former St Brigid’s Nursing Home at Crooksling between Tallaght and Blessington.

Almost immediately, the migrants began to return to Mount Street and take up camp again until this latest action to move them once more.

At Crooksling yesterday there were no protests as there have been in the past. Some of the migrants gathered at the bus shelter across the road, checking their phones and looking at the timetable.

Later on, at around 1.45pm, more people came out of the Crooksling centre and also gathered at the bus stop.

They seemed to know exactly when the bus was coming, since they arrived with barely a minute to spare.

One man, who said he was from Somalia, said he had been in the centre for around 10 weeks.

Asked what conditions were like, he said they were good.

“The food, the beds, the washing, the services are all good. But it is cold here, that is what I notice,” he said.

Another man said the men were on their way to the city and would return to the camp later.

Migrants may have been moved from their city-centre camp, but they still have to return there to keep appointments with the IPO that drew them to Mount Street in the first place.

Asked how the people who had newly arrived to Crooksling were doing, the Somalian man said: “Some are happy and a few are not happy.”

The group then boarded the No 65 bus towards the city.

Mount Street was reopened to the public at about 3pm, with measures in place to stop any more tents being erected again.