Irish police on Thursday arrested 19 people in Dublin after anti-immigration protesters blocked the main bridge in the capital for hours at peak traffic time. The bridge blockade during the evening rush hour followed a march by the around 500 anti-immigration protesters through central Dublin to the Irish parliament.

Hundreds of people gathered in the streets of Dublin on Thursday to take part in an anti-immigration protest. People carrying Irish flags and banners stating, “You’ll never beat the Irish” and “Thornton Hall says no,

Gardaí have kept apart two opposing protests - involving anti- and pro-immigration demonstrators - in Dublin city centre.

Earlier, the rival groups had gathered in the area close to the Dáil. Barriers erected by gardaí prevented any protest activity in the immediate vicinity of the Leinster House building. Gardai form a barrier between protesters and counter-protesters on Grafton Street in Dublin city centre (Brian Lawless/PA) Events began around 2pm at the GPO on O’Connell Street as hundreds of people assembled for the start of the anti-immigration demonstration.