9 arrested after disgraceful looting scenes in west Dublin last night

Nine people have been arrested following the despicable scenes in Citywest last night where a supermarket was left decimated by a group of looters and vandals.

Armed Gardaí were forced to respond to the incident after a group of ununiformed Gardaí came under attack from the looters when they first investigated the incident.

The Fortunestown Lane store came under attack at around 5pm yesterday evening when a digger was used to smash through the roof of the store, causing serious structural damage and allowing a mob of looters to gain access. Video footage from the scene shows a number of youths fleeing the store with alcohol, while there were also young children in the vicinity watching on.

https://twitter.com/SweenSteiger/status/969717764654018561

Gardaí requested military assistance from the Defence Forces to ensure that they could get to the incident, where more than 50 officers were needed to quell the situation.

A Centra store in the Jobstown area was also targeted by a smaller gang of looters, though it is understood that they were arrested shortly after that incident.

Video footage has also emerged of the digger used in the attack on Lidl attempting to smash open the shop's safe at an area nearby, with the driver of the JCB repeatedly smashing the bucket off the safe to bust a way in.

https://twitter.com/46Flynn/status/969675820754198528

"We are aware of the very serious incident at our Fortunestown Lane store this evening," read a statement from Lidl last night.

"Given that the incident is now the subject of a criminal investigation we are not in a position to comment further at this time."

They later added; "As our store on Fortunestown Lane was closed when the incident occurred this evening, we can confirm no member of our team has been injured."