Details posted online show how clashes between protesters and gardaí in Coolock developed near a site intended to be used to accommodate migrants from 3am on Monday, and escalated to the point where a garda vehicle was set on fire by 7pm.

Since March, a protest camp has been in place outside the former Crown Paints factory site in Coolock. The entrance to the site is on the Malahide Road, a key dual carriageway on the northside of Dublin which runs from Artane, through Coolock, up to Balgriffin.

Small wooden shacks have been built by protesters in the site entrance-way, and banners hung, saying, among other slogans, 'Coolock Says No.'

The protesters oppose a plan to use a large warehouse as accommodation for International Protection Applicants. Over months they have staged significant marches on the road outside, blocking and disrupting traffic – sometimes on horseback - in the process.

There have been a small number of arrests over those months, and at least one incident in which windows were broken on the site.

While there have been references from leading protesters to ‘round the clock’ protests, the camp has not been constantly occupied.

Early Monday morning, the protests significantly escalated.

A person who posts regularly from the camp published a video on TikTok at 3.51am, as he walked away from the entrance. Numerous members of An Garda Síochana are visible standing in the distance, outside the site.

"The camp is gone, the whole thing is closed off and all, boys" the man recording the video says, as he points his camera phone up the Malahide Road towards the site entrance.

Two large garda vans are parked outside the entrance, several other vehicles are at key junctions on the dual carriageway.

"The amount of garda... I’m after getting a Section 8 and told to leave the area," he says as he walks away from the site.

In a statement, the Department of Integration later said a contractor had "attempted to begin work" on the site this morning. It has been intended to be used to accommodate "families, couples, single adult males and single adult females," but, the Department, said "protests... have delayed work beginning on this site for several months."

Come 5am another protester was posting on TikTok. He approached the entrance to find it encircled by fencing.

Inside the fencing were three or four security guards and a large construction excavator which appears to have been used to demolish the wooden shacks. No gardaí are visible in the footage.

Two other security officers are outside the fencing, as is another man who appears to know the person taking the video recording.

The person recording shouts at the security guards, several of whom have West African accents. "Foreigners out," he says "get out of the country, you pricks."

The other man there tells the security guards "you’ll end up getting shot, standing there... just so you know what you’re getting yourself in for."

Read more: Coolock disturbances 'unacceptable', says Commissioner

As the morning developed more people arrived at the site. The person who at around 3.51am had been ordered to leave had returned by 7.30am and begun posting footage calling for others to show up.

"Lads there's migrants here in Crown Paints, loads of them are after going in... there’s bodies needed at Crown Paints," he said. Others soon echoed his call.

Another post on social media around 8am called for "thousands of Irish patriots" to meet in Coolock to "march to Crown Paints take it back and hold the forte [sic]."

"Now is our calling to fight to save our country," the poster said.

By 8.12am a group of approximately fifteen people had gathered, others were arriving. At the entrance to the site is a bus stop, and at 8.30am the focus of the protesters gathered shifted towards a group of four migrant men who were speaking through the fencing to the security guards.

Several screamed at the group, and disrupted the conversation through the fence.

"Ye f***ing smelly b******, ye dirty b******..." one female protester screamed as she recorded footage which was posted on Facebook. "Out, the lot of yiz... get the f*** out."

The four men walked off, pushed by a male protester in the process.

Inside the fence, a security guard spoke into his radio. "Gardaí we need attention here please," he said.

Moments later, a protester was recording over the wall - peering into the site - to show a row of 15 mattresses stacked on end.

Over the hour between 9.30am and 10.30am some of those mattresses would be dragged out to the site entrance in front of the excavator, where the camp had been, and set alight.

None of the videos which RTÉ could find online show the fencing being breached or the fire in the excavator being started in that period.

A video posted to TikTok at 10.25am showed a small fire had been lit in the operator cab of the excavator by then. In that footage, fencing which had earlier been protecting the security guards is torn down, and a man appears to be lighting the pile of mattresses on fire.

At the same time, other people are moving the damaged fencing to stretch it across the dual carriageway.

An ambulance can also be seen arriving at the site.

It’s understood in the meantime security guards employed to protect the site were attacked. One man was injured and taken to hospital.

Within minutes of that video being posted others followed showing the fire in the cab of the excavator had swelled. By 10.31am, the excavator is engulfed by fire. The pile of mattresses are also on fire.

With the excavator at the entrance to the site in flames, gardaí began arriving at the scene in numbers. A video posted at 10.49am by a protester shows about ten gardaí lined up outside the entrance.

By 11.00am, there was about twice that many gardaí on the scene. Come 11.10am there was a large emergency service response, with multiple garda vehicles, fire engines, and ambulances.

Candidates from the recent local elections were also there. Kevin Coyle, who narrowly missed out on a seat in the local area posted updates showing footage, while Stephen Redmond of the National Party was one of several others to post from the site.

At around 11.25am, Mr Redmond posted a video of himself with the excavator burning behind him.

"This is the result of the government not listening," he said. "All the beds that they had lined up there for migrants, they’re all after being flamed as well. You’d wanna start listening," he said.

Over the following hour, the fires were extinguished but tensions continued to grow, as did the size of the crowd and the number of gardaí.

By 11.45am, protesters were using the damaged fencing to push into a line of about two dozen gardaí who had formed up near the site entrance.

About an hour later, members in public order gear would take the place of uniformed gardaí in the line.

In the meantime, other politicians were arriving and posting updates. Recently-elected Dublin City Councillor Gavin Pepper turned up at the scene. In his post, the excavator behind him is no longer on fire but is still smoking.

Directing his comments to the government, he said: "yous are looking for civil unrest in this country."

As the garda public order unit arrived on the scene, young males – many with their faces covered - moved the damaged fences to block the movement of the gardaí.

"What are yiz gonna do?!" one man shouted in the window of a public order transport van, pointing at the driver.

By 2.20pm, members of the Public Order Unit were clashing with protesters, making arrests and deploying pepper spray.

Footage posted at around 2.30pm showed a line of gardaí in public order gear with shields deployed, advancing as protesters sprint away.

Soon after, videos showed that large commercial bins had been wheeled into the middle of the road and set alight. By around 4pm, protesters had started directing fireworks at the Public Order Unit, while new fires burned between gardaí and protesters along the Malahide Road.

In the meantime, posts had been published across social media encouraging people to gather at the site this evening for what was termed ‘an emergency protest.’

At around 2.40pm, Cork-based Derek Blighe, founder of the nationalist and immigration-focused ‘Ireland First’ party posted on X: "See you in Coolock at six o’clock."

Other politicians were also travelling to Coolock.

Cllr Glen Moore of the Irish Freedom Party, who was elected as a councillor for Palmerstown-Fonthill on South Dublin County Council posted on X around 6pm. He said "here at coolock to support my people. Remember you have the right to free assembly and protest."

Footage posted by Cllr Moore from the Malahide Road 20 minutes later showed fireworks exploding near a line of public order gardaí. He captioned it "Clashes at Coolock Says No."

By 7pm, footage posted showed Cllr Gavin Pepper standing beside Cllr Malachy Steenson speaking to public order gardaí who were lined up holding cans of pepper spray. A rock about the size of a cricket ball is on the road at the most prominent garda’s feet in the footage, as Cllr Pepper says repeatedly "deescalate, deescalate this."

The garda can be heard saying "speak to the sergeant."

Twelve arrests had been made by then. A few minutes later, footage was posted online showing young men standing on garda vehicles, jumping on the windscreens, and forcefully kicking in its doors.

Reports would soon emerge saying that a garda vehicle was being lit on fire.