Protests erupted over the weekend in the town of Ballinrobe in Co Mayo, Ireland, over plans to bring 50 male migrants to the small town to be housed at the JJ Gannons Hotel.
The town came together to protest the move with the social media page ‘Ballinrobe Says No’, created to garner support.
A live-streamed video of the protest showed a local business owner addressing the crowd and sharing the concern that the community was only given two days’ notice of the impending migrant arrival.
“Unfortunately, we are going to have to stand here and stay here, and not allow this to happen,” she shared.
“If this happens, my daughter will not walk down this street, and I won’t walk down this street. Where are we all going to go if these 50 people, without documentation likely, are hovering here, where we are standing now.”
“They will be here Monday morning unless we all stay here, stand here, and do something about it.”