The police had reclaimed O’Connell Bridge and were preparing a baton charge on the south side of the River Liffey, but the rioters and bystanders on Westmoreland Street did not want to retreat and lose their view of the fires.
A masked youth had just ignited a bin, which had erupted with a great whoosh and engulfed a bus stop in front of Mimi’s Coffee. On the far side of the bridge, a doubledecker bus and car blazed at the foot of the statue of Daniel O’Connell, shooting orange flames. Smoke from other fires plumed into the night sky.
