‘It’s almost every day’: foreign delivery riders face gang attacks in Dublin

Delivery workers ride bikes and motorbikes through the streets of Dublin calling for more safety at work in the face of a history of violence committed by local teenagers in Ireland against riders, such as the recent case of Bolivian riders attacked in Temple Bar. Photograph: Natalia Campos/Sopa Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

When the coronavirus pandemic shuttered Dublin, gangs of youths roved deserted streets and discovered a new, brutal form of entertainment: attacking food delivery riders.

They threw rocks and bottles and sticks and if they succeeded in knocking over the rider sometimes followed up with fists and knives and seized the bicycle as a trophy.