A Muslim councilor in Ireland has called for activists who rioted in Dublin last week after three children were stabbed by an Algerian migrant to be executed.
Azad Talukder, a councilor in Limerick for the co-governing Fianna Fáil party, made the remarks during a council meeting held on Monday where the civil unrest in the Irish capital was discussed.
“I strongly believe that this is not the face of Ireland. This is just some criminals looting the shops. I don’t think they follow any ideological purpose. They come to the streets and just rob. They should get punishment,” Talukder, originally from Bangladesh, told colleagues as cited by the Limerick Post.
“Not even an animal does this kind of thing,” he said, not in reference to the migrant who slaughtered three children and a female carer who sought to intervene in the massacre, but to the outraged protesters who took to the streets following the attack.
“It is very shameful and they should get public punishment. I’d like to see them shot in the head or bring the public in and beat them until they die,” Talukder added.
His remarks were leaped upon by fellow council members including Labour Party councilor Conor Sheehan who demanded he withdraw the inflammatory comments immediately.
“Okay, I can withdraw that. I just put my emotion only. I hope Conor Sheehan understands that is only an expression of my emotion,” he added.
Considerable condemnation has been afforded by politicians of the public response to the heinous attack outside a primary school in Dublin last Thursday with Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar leading the criticism of what he regarded as people acting not out of patriotism but “hate”.
“We need to reclaim Ireland from the criminals who seek any excuse to unleash horror on our streets,” he added, again referring to individuals protesting against children being stabbed, not the attacker himself.
Varadkar doubled down on his administration’s commitment to its liberal migration policy in a speech the day after the attack, telling reporters that Ireland would be a “vastly inferior” place without immigrants.
He assured foreign nationals in the country that “what they witnessed yesterday is not reflective of the Irish people,” but a “tiny minority” of the country, and urged residents not to “allow the people who want to take the city away from us to think that they have succeeded.”