A rock was thrown through a councillor's window in Ballybrack with a warning attached to "stop supporting f**king refugees".
Independent Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Councillor Hugh Lewis said a "good sized" rock was thrown through the window of his family home in Ballybrack on Monday night. There was a note wrapped around the wrapped around the rock.
It read: "Hugh, stop supporting f**king refugees or you’ll have to move out. This is your last warning." Hugh's father Patrick was watching television in the room at the time that the rock was thrown.
The 78-year-old was left shook up by the event and could not go to sleep until the early hours of the morning, the Irish Times reported. He said: "I didn’t go to bed until after 4 this morning, and I haven’t broke my fast. My stomach seems just to be shut."
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He added that he was "blessed" that the curtain was tucked behind the radiator. He said: “It was like a bomb hitting the window.
"I had the curtain tucked down behind the radiator and some of the bedclothes on the radiator. I was blessed I had the curtains tucked in. They took the brunt of it and the rock got tangled in the curtains,” says Mr Lewis snr.
“I got the note. It was on a dirty piece of cardboard. It was glazed on the back so the guards took it. I’d say they might get prints off it.”
Cllr Lewis supported 140 asylum seekers being housed in the old Senior College Dun Laoghaire building on Eblana Avenue which he faced some criticism over. He said: "“There has been a concerted effort to scapegoat the people seeking asylum and to incite hatred and violence. There have been protests outside other public representatives’ homes, but this feels like an escalation.
“My dad is 78 and lives on his own most of the time. So yes, I am worried, am very worried for him. These people don’t care about the truth or the consequence of their actions. We possibly will have to look at CCTV. ”
Gardai are understood to be “investigating an incident of criminal damage" in the Ballybrack residence.
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