Expert Claims Campaign Of Conspiracy Led To Weekend Anti-Lockdown Protests In Dublin

Far-right extremists have gained new recruits by pushing conspiracy theories about the pandemic, according to a researcher on disinformation.

Three Gardaí were injured and one was hospitalised following an anti-lockdown riot in Dublin on Saturday, which Ciarán O'Connor from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue says followed the same pattern as the attack on the US Capitol in January.
There are over forty such Facebook groups in Ireland which are promoting conspiracy theories - and have grown their membership by around 90 percent since last July.
Ciarán O'Connor says the scenes at the weekend were the result of months of online organising by fringe groups.