Around two hundred people gathered yesterday evening in the Portobello area of Dublin to protest against the barriers that have been gone up along the Grand Canal. They were erected last month following the multi-agency operation to remove a tent village that was being lived in by homeless asylum seekers.

Gathering outside the Leonardo Group's new NYX Dublin hotel, the crowd was addressed by a series of speakers who bemoaned the loss of public space and excessively high rents in the capital – whilst stressing that refugees are not responsible for the latter.