‘Racist mindsets’: Congolese in Ireland feel fear in wake of Yves Sakila’s death

Submission statement: Anti-immigrant sentiment has been sharply increasing in Ireland in recent years, challenging the country's social contract and striking fear among Irish minorities of immigrant background.

On May 15, 2026, Yves Sakila, a Congolese man accused of shoplifting, was tackled to the ground by the shop's security agents, one of whom knelt on Sakila's neck for five minutes, likely causing his death from suffocation. The incident echoed George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis in 2020 and has led to protests from Irish minorities against what they say is a pervasive systemic racism, as authorities have yet to address whether Sakila's ethnicity may have played a role in the disproportionate amount of force inflicted upon him.

Kembetia Bissa, who arrived in Dublin in 2003 and is connected to the broader Congolese community in Ireland, says that public attitudes towards immigrants and minorities have significantly and visibly worsened in recent years. In 2023, anti-immigration protests broke out across the country and a shelter for migrants was torched in an arson attack; in December of the same year, a rare riot broke out in Dublin after an Algerian man stabbed three people; in 2025, a series of violent attacks targeting minorities led to protests against racism.

Dismay among Irish minorities was compounded by a comment from former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, leaked a few days before Sakila's killing, who said he had "no problem" with Ukrainians coming into Ireland but added: "The ones I worry about are the Africans.[…] We can't be taking in people from the Congo and all these places. I think there's too many from those places".