A youth was assaulted on a Luas tram in north inner city Dublin on Tuesday evening by a group of young males, gardaí have said.
The incident took place at 5.40pm at the Parnell Street stop.
“Gardaí were alerted to an incident of youths at the Luas line at Parnell Street assaulting a youth this evening,” a Garda spokeswoman said. “A number of Garda units attended the scene and youths had dispersed upon arrival.”
A passenger who was on the Luas at the time of the incident said that close to 20 young people got on at the Parnell Street stop.
“There was lots of screaming, shouting and pushing. I’m not sure if they were fighting amongst themselves or someone on the tram,” he said.
“The driver told them he was calling the police and said they were on CCTV and that the Luas wouldn’t move until they left.
“They left and ran down the street and the driver held the tram back before the next stop with the doors closed.”
He said one of the youths appeared to be “brandishing what looked like a butcher’s knife” as they ran away. “It could have been a prop but it looked like a large knife.”
The passenger said he had used the Luas line for the last three years and had “never experienced anything like that before”.
“The people on the tram were very concerned, you weren’t sure if you were better off getting off the Luas . . . No one really knew what was going on,” he said.
“It was frightening you didn’t know what was about to happen and you don’t expect something like that, especially in the middle of the day.”
Transdev, which operates the Luas, said it was investigating the incident, which it believes occurred on or around the Parnell Street platform.
