A video has gone viral on Twitter showing two young Irish girls screaming at a Mexican man, espousing anti-immigrant vitriol and telling him he doesn’t “belong” there.
Twitter user @Irishlagunero shared the three-part video in a thread last week, which started with one of them screaming into the camera:
"Estas en Irlanda debes hablar ingles", las ignore como cualquier otro haría entonces comencé a grabarlas solo por si acaso y siguieron diciendome "Eres un inmigrante vuelve a tu país", afortunadamente grabe todo, incluso, llegó la garda después de un rato y ellas se fueron. pic.twitter.com/MkxJLHao9u
— Beto knox (@Irishlagunero) June 3, 2019
In his thread, he identified that the victim was his friend Dave Monklova, who also shared the video in a Facebook group for Mexicans living in Dublin.
In the description of the Facebook post, Monklova said he was in the Windy Arbor neighborhood on June 1 for the Champions League Final. He was speaking with a friend on the phone in Spanish when the girls asked him to speak in English, which is when he began recording them. He alleged that they broke his earphones and physically assaulted him, and that he eventually gave a statement to law enforcement.
A slightly longer version of the same video, shared by user @iluvdf on Twitter, shows one of the girls screaming into the camera.
Monklova, from behind the camera says, “I’m paying my taxes,” and the girl tries to mock him by repeating his sentence, and making absurd hand and body gestures.
“I’m my paying my rent, I pay my student…” he says as she continues her hand gestures. “Why don’t you try…to like me?”
“You don’t belong here,” says the girl.
“No I don’t belong, I’m a student and what’s your problem with that?” Monklova asks calmly.
“‘Cause you’re an immigrant and you were born in a different country,” says the girl.
The girl screams at him for taking her video without her permission. In Ireland, the provisions for recording someone in a public place are murky, and the implications of such videos, which could be considered “personal data,” could vary depending on the context.
A young boy, who appears to know the girl, approaches the scene on a bike and tries to reluctantly push her from the camera. Another young girl then appears, screaming into the camera.
“You wanna fuck off,” she screams, repeating herself. “You wanna hit me and take a video of me here?”
She holds her fingers up to her face as she screams.
In a second video, shared by @Irishlagunero, the girls are seen at a distance with more people, and continue to scream towards the camera. One of the boys with them pulls his pants down and flashes his back in the direction of the camera.
"Estas en Irlanda debes hablar ingles", las ignore como cualquier otro haría entonces comencé a grabarlas solo por si acaso y siguieron diciendome "Eres un inmigrante vuelve a tu país", afortunadamente grabe todo, incluso, llegó la garda después de un rato y ellas se fueron. pic.twitter.com/MkxJLHao9u
— Beto knox (@Irishlagunero) June 3, 2019
In a third video, the conversation seems to continue in a different location. It’s not clear from the thread if the incident took place at the same location or was spread out. Monklova and Twitter user @iluvdf did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comments; user @Irishlagunero initially responded but did not answer to follow-ups from the Daily Dot.
“I don’t really have a problem with you guys, what’s your problem?” says Monklova from behind the camera in the third video shared by @Irishlagunero.
The girls are heard screaming at him, asking why he’s recording them.
“Because you broke my headphones,” says Monklova.
“Put your phone down,” they say, as they’re about to exit through a gate.
“I won’t do that,” Monklova says calmly.
“Why?” one of the girls asks him repeatedly, at times screaming, as the other girl tries to pull her away from the situation.
“What’s your problem?” Monklova asks.
“You’re my problem,” the girl continues scream.
“Why’re you taking videos?” her friend screams repeatedly.
Towards the end of the video, the friend is also seen holding up her phone and appears to be recording him.
They then try to incite panic, screaming at him for recording “teenage girls” and repeatedly asking him to take down the videos.
https://twitter.com/iluvdf/status/1136319999369469955
At one point, one of the girls brings along a woman who says she’s her sister and asks him to stop the video.
“But I didn’t do anything,” Monklova says, repeating that, “I have rights.”
The entire interaction has been retweeted thousands of times from the account of @iluvdf.
According to comments on the Facebook thread, these girls are “knackers,” a term often used to describe Irish hooligan teens. Many in the thread shared similar experienced with “knackers” like them.
Others apologized.
“These little scum bags do not represent Dublin. I apologize for these disgusting animals. You are all welcome here,” wrote one user.
The police confirmed with the Dublin Gazette that they are investigating the incident. The Daily Dot reached out to Dublin Police for comment and will update the story if they respond.
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