Dublin pharmacy gets petrol bombed!

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Dublin pharmacy gets petrol bombed!
At about 2 pm, in the height of the shopping day, on Friday 20th of November 2009, the pharmacy in Poppintree parade, Ballymun, a suburb of Dublin Ireland, was petrol bombed by a unknown individual. There were shoppers in the pharmacy and several members of staff were also present including the owner of the shop. Fortunately a tragedy was averted  and nobody was hurt. The inside of the pharmacy is however totally destroyed and the shop is now closed pending an inquiry and for repairs.
When I came back that afternoon from my own shopping trip, 1 mile away in the bus, there was a commotion and the traffic was very slow; fire brigade and police (Gardai) were on the scene. A police cordon was in place and a large crowd had accumulated around it to see what the problem was. The smell of petrol was overwhelming and all the windows were blackened by smoke! I was able to take a few photos, and on Sunday, when the cordon was removed I went back to take closer photos.The area is known for its long standing drug and vandalism problems and this pharmacy was targeted several times in the recent past. Its windows were broken on several occasions.
The owner of the Poppintree Parade Shopping Center, however does not wish its tenants to put metal railing outside the glass as it would look too bad, according to a previous conversation I had with the pharmacist, after such an incident. The owner is eager to upgrade the area image!
The metal railing has to be placed inside the glass, and this off course does not prevent the windows being broken during the night. Nobody however expected a petrol bomb to be thrown in the shop in the middle of the afternoon. This is a worrying development for the area.
A local man, who does not want to be named told me that according to the word on the street two men came into the shop that afternoon demanding methadone. Upon refusal, one of them threw the petrol bomb through the front window and escaped. Somehow, the customers and staff escaped without serious injuries.

Brittnear
Dublin
Sunday, 22 November 2009, Dublin, Ireland