Police blamed far-right agitators for starting the violence on Thursday, which began after three children and a number of people were attacked on Dublin’s Parnell Square.   

A five-year-old girl was receiving emergency treatment after sustaining serious injuries in the stabbing, police said in a statement Thursday. A five-year-old boy and six-year-old girl suffered less serious injuries, the statement said, adding that the boy had been discharged from hospital. A teacher’s aide in her 30s was also being treated for serious injuries, police said. 

A man in his 50s was arrested, police said, adding that they were not looking for any other suspect. He “remains in a serious condition in a hospital in the Dublin Region,” police said in an update Friday.

Police blamed far-right agitators for starting the violence after a small group of anti-immigrant protesters arrived at the scene of the stabbing. It took officers several hours to regain control after the crowd grew to around 200 to 300 people. 

Police Commissioner Drew Harris told a news conference Friday that it was “disgraceful” that their inquiries into the stabbing “were disrupted by the disorder.”

“These are scenes we have not seen in decades,” he said, adding that 11 police vehicles had been destroyed, along with three buses and 13 stores had been damaged and looted. He said that 34 people had been arrested. Investigators would scour thousands of hours of CCTV footage, he added.   

“I don’t want to lose focus on the terrible event in terms of the dreadful assault on the schoolchildren and their teacher,” he said.