“Whatever their nationality”, they are now “Irish heroes”: Dublin on Friday, November 24, saluted the people, including a Brazilian delivery man and a French high school student, who overpowered the author of a knife attack near a school in the Irish capital. “This is a horrific act of violence,” Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said of the attack on Thursday, in which five people were injured. A 5-year-old girl and a teacher are in critical condition, police say.
The Prime Minister saluted “all those who risked their lives to save lives” and denounced the rioters who sowed chaos Thursday evening in the center of Dublin, in an area where there is a particularly immigrant population. The authorities accused those responsible for these riots of being close to the far right. After the attack, rumors spread on social networks about the origins of its author, who according to the Irish Times is a naturalized Irish man after having lived in the country for twenty years.
Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin paid tribute to the Brazilian citizen involved. “First of all, the person who intervened was a Brazilian delivery man. It’s part of the story. We must not forget that,” he said. This Brazilian, Caio Benicio, explained to the British agency Press Association that he was on his motorbike when he saw what he thought was a fight. He saw a man grab a little girl and attack her with a knife. “When I saw the knife, I stopped my motorbike and then I acted on instinct,” said the father of two. He took off his helmet and punched the attacker “with all his might”. Thursday night’s riots were “against immigrants,” and “it doesn’t make any sense to me because I’m an immigrant myself and I was the one who helped,” said Mr. Benicio, who lives in Ireland for about twenty years.
The young Frenchman congratulated by Emmanuel Macron
A young Frenchman, Alan, also intervened to subdue the attacker. He is a student from a hotel school in the Ardennes, on an internship in a restaurant in Dublin since last month. French President Emmanuel Macron telephoned him “to congratulate and thank him for this act of bravery which saved lives and which makes us all proud”, according to the Elysée. The restaurant where he works also paid him a nice tribute on Instagram. The 17-year-old “was one of the brave heroes who managed to disarm the schoolboy attacker yesterday in Dublin on his way to work,” he wrote alongside the photo of Alan.
“He noticed something was happening as he passed by and threw himself at the attacker to stop him and managed to snatch his knife,” says the establishment. Alan suffered injuries to his hand and face. “Without this act of bravery, who knows what might have happened? », asks the restaurant. At the conclusion of this publication, the establishment dares a little touch of humor: “Not all superheroes wear capes. »