City Councillor Said Shoot Ireland Rioters in the Head, ‘Beat Them Until They Die’

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Limerick Council / Getty Images / Collage
Oliver JJ Lane

The Irish political establishment has generally responded with more disgust to the Dublin riot last week than the mass stabbing that pressaged it, but none as strongly, perhaps as Councilman Abul Kalam Azad Talukder who said he wanted those responsible killed.

Limerick councillor who responded to last Thursday’s riots by declaring “hate will never win” appears susceptible to the emotion himself, having also ranted that protesters should be shot and beaten to death. Irish outlets including Gript and The Limerick Post have reported on remarks made by councillor Azad Talukder — chairman of the Metropolitan District of Limerick and “businessman and taxi driver by trade” — made at the City and Country Council on Monday in which he made his incendiary claims.

The Fianna Fáil councillor said, per the report:

I strongly believe that this is not the face of Ireland. This is just some criminals looting the shops. I don’t think they follow any ideological purpose. They come to the streets and just rob. They should get punishment.

Not even an animal does these kind of thing. It is very shameful and they should get public punishment. I’d like to see them shot in the head or bring the public in and beat them until they die.

A Labour Councillor responded to Talukder’s remarkable intervention, stating “you can’t call for people to be shot in the council chamber” and asking for the remarks to be withdrawn. Talukder is said to have claimed he was merely expressing his emotion and said “okay, I can withdraw that.”

The ironically aggressive outburst suggests council chairman Talukder may be failing to live up to his own ideals. Indeed, just days before he is reported to have said in response to Thursday’s events that “I strongly believe this hate will never win.”

Azad Talukder has previously been feted in Ireland for his historic rise in Irish politics, being celebrated as the first Muslim councillor in Limerick in 2019 and later the first time a “member of Limerick’s immigrant community” led Metropolitan District Chairman this year. At the time, the Limerick Leader reported that history had been made as “Bangladeshi national” Talukder wore the chain of office for the first time.

As noted in Gript’s report on the councillor’s comments, they have been picked up by Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor, who has promised political repercussions for the circumstances leading up to last week’s stabbing of three children in Dublin by a migrant, and the government’s response to the riots that followed. The fighter wrote, “The religion of this deputy mayor doesn’t interest me, but these comments do, and are fully criminal.”

McGregor called for Talukder’s political party Fianna Fáil to respond and said there should be “instant deportation” over the calls for Irish people to be summarily executed.

Fianna Fáil has now said, four days after the remarks were initially made in the Council Chamber, that they were going to “engage with [Talukder] on his remarks”, calling them “totally inappropriate”.

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