Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has moved to clarify remarks made following the anti-lockdown protests in Dublin yesterday where he claimed the far left were involved in the clashes.
There were three gardai injured, with one taken to hospital, and 13 people were charged with public order offences following a special sitting in Dublin District Court yesterday.
The protest, which quickly turned after a firework was aimed at gardai, was widely condemned as Ireland continues to be under Level 5 lockdown restrictions.
The Garda Commissioner has now moved to clarify that there is "no corroborated evidence" that far left groups were involved in yesterday's mayhem.
In a statement issued this morning, he said: "I wish to clarify my remarks of Saturday evening in respect of the violent protest that took place on Saturday afternoon, 27 February 2021.
"The vast majority of those who took part belong to a number of factions including anti-vaccine, anti-mask and anti-lockdown protestors, far right groups, and those intent on trouble and disorder.
"Despite initial indications, following further investigation, there is no corroborated evidence of extreme left factions being involved.
"I also want to thank the public for the many messages of goodwill expressed towards members of An Garda Síochána who policed the protest and, in particular, towards those members who were injured."
St Stephen's Green park was shut by the OPW due to a Garda order, along with the Iveagh Gardens, ahead of the 2pm protest against lockdown restrictions.
And as crowds gathered, the situation quickly became tense as those at the front of the gathering began to clash with Gardai.
Barriers that had been erected on Grafton Street were pulled by the protesters, leading to scuffles with Gardai as crowds chanted "shame on you" at the Irish police and others urged those in attendance to be peaceful.
The situation on Grafton Street then descended into chaos as a firework was fired at Gardai, leading to the crowd being pushed back and dispersed by the public order unit.
Senior Garda sources told Dublin Live: ”These are serious right-wing extremists who are behind this.
“They are a well organised network willing to use violent means to achieve their aims.
“The organisers are a threat to the very institutions of this state.
“They have made threats online - they have the capacity to carry out their threats.
“They are well organised and pose a real and serious threat.”
The protest then headed down College Green, onto O'Connell Street and led to the Garden of Remembrance before heading back down to the GPO.
Protesters carried a banner calling for the "Right to Freedom" and chanted to "end the lockdown".
The violent protest was brought under control by Gardai under the direction of Supt Joe Gannon who is in charge of policing in Dublin city centre.
Dublin TD Neale Richmond slammed the "shocking scenes" and shared a pic of the firework being fired at gardai.
He said: “It was disgraceful to see this protest descend into violent scenes with brave members of An Garda Siochána subjected to intolerable physical and verbal abuse.
“Some of the eye witness footage circulating is extremely disturbing and every public representative should condemn these awful scenes.
“The footage appears to show a lit firework being thrown at members of the gardai by one protester, which is truly shameful.
“These brave men and women risk their lives every day in the service of the people of our State and what they were subjected to today is utterly appalling.
“Those who organised this protest need to be held account for their actions.
“At a time of a global pandemic with so many people working tirelessly to suppress this awful and deadly disease, these antics were reprehensible.
“These self-styled patriots are a clear threat to the wellbeing of our nation. All these COVID protesters have done is bring shame to our capital’s streets.“
