'We are ok': Palestinian asylum seeker, 20, in a 'safer place' after moving on from Grand Canal
Tents are removed from the Grand Canal in Dublin. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins Photos
A 20-year-old asylum seeker from Palestine who was moved to a tented area in south Dublin on Thursday from the Grand Canal has said he is in a “safer place”.
Samir fled from the Palestinian city of Hebron 24 days ago, where both his parents were killed in the Israel-Gaza war, and moved to the Grand Canal with three of his friends on Friday.
In the past week, more than 100 asylum seekers set up a makeshift encampment along the banks of the canal.
This morning, the encampment was cleared following a multi-agency operation. The operation began at approximately 6.30am and by shortly after 8am almost all the tents had been removed using a truck with a crane arm.
The asylum seekers who had been living in the encampment were told it was an offence to stay on the canal and that they would be taken by bus to official accommodation.
The Government said 163 individuals have been safely moved to Crooksling and the former Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, with 148 going to Crooksling and 15 to Dundrum.
Samir has since told the that buses came for them at around 6.30am. He was taken by bus, with others, to Crooksling.
Translating through Google on his phone, he said: “They came early and there was a bus. They did not say much.
“They told us with their hand movements to move from the tents, then they took my tent. I got my things, and they took my tent away.
“They did not say anything that I [understood]. They did not hurt us they took us to the bus and gave us food and water.
“I am in a new place now in the mountains and it is ok. We are ok. It is a nicer place I am in a safer place”.
Samir sent the a video of his new accommodation and said he wants to try and get settled here and then apply to college.
The boy’s parents died in Israeli attacks on Palestine, and he has two brothers who are still at home.
“I have nobody only me and my friends” he said.
The Grand Canal encampment emerged shortly after more than 200 asylum seekers were cleared from a similar makeshift camp at the nearby International Protection Office in Mount Street last week.
The Government said Thursday's operation involved gardaí, Dublin City Council, the HSE, the Departments of Integration and Justice as well as Waterways Ireland.
A statement from the Government said: “The purpose of the operation is to ensure the safe movement of people seeking international protection from the tents on the Grand Canal to International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS)-designated accommodation.
“The IPAS-designated accommodation has toilets and showers; health services; indoor areas where food is provided; facilities to charge phones and personal devices; access to transport to and from Dublin City Centre; and 24-hour onsite security.”
Similar to what happened on Mount Street, fences have been erected around the Grand Canal to prevent another encampment.
Most of the asylum seekers got onto the buses this morning, but two men from Afghanistan told the they were “not going to go on the bus.” One man said, “I am already in a new place, and I will stay on the street I don’t want to move with them. I am ok in the park for now.”
The men have since relocated to a site close to the Davenport Hotel just a short distance from Grand Canal.
The latest figures from the Department of Integration said there are 1,764 asylum seekers here without accommodation.
Meanwhile, other asylum seekers who did not want to go to the centres with the council today have set up tents along Custom House Quay, Samual Beckett Bridge, and Clontarf Park facing the beach.
