DUBLIN - A 50-year-old man was on Dec 21 charged with attempted murder in Dublin over multiple stabbings at a school that sparked the worst rioting seen in the Irish capital for decades.

Riad Bouckaher was charged in a Dublin court with eight offences, including the attempted murder of three children and causing serious harm to a care worker, Irish media reported.

A five-year-old girl and the care worker are still being treated for their injuries.

The Nov 23 school attack in central Dublin triggered a protest by anti-immigrant agitators that spiralled into the torching of police cars and public transport vehicles and shop looting.

Earlier on Dec 21, the police arrested Bouckaher, who had been hospitalised since the attack after passers-by intervened during the stabbings.

“I am a sick person,” Bouckaher told the court, according to the Irish Times.

Bouckaher, who spoke through an interpreter, will next appear before court on Dec 28.

According to media reports, the man – whose name was only released on Dec 21 – is a naturalised Irish citizen originally from Algeria.

The rioting, which was in part fuelled by far-right users of social media, prompted a government clampdown on hate speech online and increased funding for the police.

Anti-immigrant sentiment and far-right activity online has been on the rise in Ireland in recent years, intensifying in November after a Slovak national was convicted of murdering a young teacher.

Last weekend, a hotel in western Ireland due to receive 70 asylum seekers was burned down, a suspected arson attack condemned by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

There is “no justification for violence, arson or vandalism in our Republic. Ever”, he said. AFP