Police and political leaders in Ireland have urged anti-war protesters to keep within the law after a truck was driven through the gates of the Russian embassy.
Security has been bolstered at the embassy in Dublin following Monday’s incident. A man appeared in court on Tuesday morning charged with dangerous driving and criminal damage.
Deputy premier Leo Varadkar condemned the incident, branding it “foolish and unhelpful”.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris rejected a claim by the Russian authorities that gardai stood “idle” while the vehicle reversed through the gates.
Tanaiste Mr Varadkar expressed concern that Russian state media could try to use the incident to portray Ireland in a negative light.
“We’ve obligations under the Vienna Convention to protect diplomats who are here in Ireland, and also that will now be misrepresented in Russian state TV as Irish people being involved in violent acts against Russians,” he said.
“So, it was a foolish and unhelpful act in that regard, and I would say to anyone being involved in the protests, please do protest, we want you to do that, but peaceful protests – no violence, no criminal damage.”
Following Monday’s incident, the Russian embassy issued a statement of condemnation.
While the initial statement criticised the response of the gardai, a second statement later welcomed additional security measures put in place by the Garda.
Mr Harris said he did not accept that gardai had stood idly by, noting there was a swift arrest in the aftermath.
“Where there’s been other incidents as well, individuals are now in the criminal justice system,” he added.
“We’ve made detections in all of those instances, so to say we were standing idly by is not correct.”
Asked about the cost of the beefed-up security, Mr Harris said: “We have a responsibility obviously to protect all the ambassadors and embassies here in Ireland as part of our function as a policing service and so, in effect, these costs are met by our overall budget and our responsibility that we have.
“And so with the security arrangements at the Russian embassy they will be regularly assessed.”
He said security measures will be “proportionate and necessary”.
The Commissioner said it is important that protests stay within the law.
“There’s a lot of tension and people are protesting, as they’re entitled to do, but it is a time of high emotion and frustration amongst those protesters.
“What we’d say to them, you are entitled to protest, but you must follow the directions of gardai on duty and obviously you must not commit offences.”
