The 'sole purpose' of the violence and unrest in Coolock on Monday was to cause ‘havoc,’ the Justice Minister has said.
It comes after violent scenes at a site which is due to house International Protection applicants.
The Garda Public Order Unit was deployed and officers used pepper spray after coming under attack.
Some 19 people have been arrested.
Officers were deployed for a second consecutive night on Tuesday as anti-asylum seeker protests continued.
Members of the Gardaí and the Public Order Unit getting ready to baton charge protesters in Coolock, 15-7-24. Image: Eamonn Farrell/© RollingNews.ieJustice Minister Helen McEntee told Newstalk Breakfast the scenes on Monday were ‘in no way legitimate protest’.
"I think we need to be very careful what we call 'protests' and what's legitimate and what's not," she said.
🗣"What they wanted to do was cause harm".
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee responds to this week's unrest in Coolock and addresses:
👥Engagement with local communities
🏨Moving away from housing migrants in hotels and B&Bs
👮♂️Whether the Gardaí are well equipped for that… pic.twitter.com/161mrgk7mD— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) July 17, 2024
"What we saw on Monday was in no way legitimate protest.
"What we saw were people firing missiles [and] rockets and attacking members of An Garda Síochána.
"A member of a security team was assaulted and this is what escalated the whole thing on Monday, as well as private property being set alight".
'Sow division and create havoc'
Minister McEntee said she doesn't accept that a lack of communication with the local community was responsible for the initial unrest.
"That was not protest; it was criminal behaviour and criminal activity," she said.
"That's why you had 30 people arrested, 15 before the courts.
"This idea that communication was the reason for it … no amount of communication would have stopped those who intentionally went to Coolock that day or who had been already there."
Minister McEntee said she believes their "sole purpose was to sow division but also to create havoc - that was their sole focus.
"They didn't want to talk, they didn't want to engage in conversation or debate on the rights or wrongs or the merits or not of what was happening," she said.
"What they wanted to do was cause harm.
"If people are engaged in normal and peaceful protest they're not brought before the courts and you're certainly not charged".
'We need these larger sites'
Minister McEntee denied suggestions the Government is not engaging with communities.
"The community have said very clearly - and there are groups on the ground, there are partnerships, there are organisations who are there to help with integration - they want to be engaged with and they are being engaged with," she said.
"There has been meetings as far back as March when this was identified as a site.
"Further engagement in April, further engagement in May - but you have to remember we're only at the early stages here.
"If we're to move away from private providers, smaller B&Bs, hotels... we do have to have these larger types of sites".
'People trying to stoke up division'
Minister McEntee says she believes certain people are moving to different communities to create division.
"You have a minority of people who are not just from the Coolock area and that community but people who are moving around to a number of sites trying to stoke up this division," she said.
"These are very clearly not people who want to communicate; these are people who don't want to engage - they want to veto anyone coming into their area.
"Nobody has a right to veto where anybody would go - in particular somebody who might be fleeing war, persecution and torture".
Minister McEntee added that those behind the unrest are "still a minority of people".
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