A councilor from County Limerick, Ireland, called for "public punishment" of protesters who took to the streets of Dublin late last week. During a session of Limerick City and County Council this week, Azad Talukder said that he would "like to see them shot in the head or bring the public in and beat them until they die."
Those words, reported by the local newspaper Limerick Post, came after citizens of the Irish capital protested, burned vehicles and destroyed public property after a knife attack that left multiple victims, including minors.
Talukder described the demonstrations as "shameful," and said that "not even an animal does these kind of thing":
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.
After his council peer Conor Sheehan reproached him for his remarks, Talukder retracted his statement and tried to justify himself by saying: "I just put my emotion only ... I hope Conor Sheehan understands that is only an expression of my emotion."
