Tensions have been running hot in Ireland after a 49-year-old Algerian-Irish man stabbed five people, three of them children, sending a woman and a young child to hospital in a serious condition.

On all sides, reactions to the attack have been immediate and intense.

Crowds of rioters angry at some of the highest levels of immigration in Europe took to the streets of Dublin, torching vehicles and looting stores. Hundreds of police officers were dispatched and the night ended with dozens of arrests.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar responded by announcing plans to fast-track draconian new “hate speech” laws that would go as far as criminalising the saving of memes on a smartphone.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk reacted to Varadkar by scoffing that the country’s leader “hates the Irish people”, while the prestige press on both sides of the Atlantic hyperventilated about a far-right apocalypse.

Even former UFC champion Conor McGregor found himself in the middle of the fight. The night before the stabbings, in response to a report that non-nationals could vote in local elections, McGregor tweeted, “Ireland, we are at war”—words the media later framed as incitement to violence that drove the riots.

However, one of the most bizarre stories to emerge out of the chaos was the news that a graffiti tag reading “Irish Lives Matter” is being treated as a “hate incident” by authorities in west Belfast.

According to the BBC, the message accompanied signage erected in the city stating that the community “will no longer accept the re-housing of illegal immigrants”. Police have asked anyone with information about the origins of either message to come forward.

Even as the words “Irish Lives Matter” are deemed hateful, Irish authorities have greeted with yawns a Limerick councillor’s call for rioters to be “shot in the head”. The councillor behind the remarks, Azad Talukder, is a naturalised Irish citizen originally from Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

As the Limerick Post has reported:

Fianna Fáil councillor Azad Talukder was asked to withdraw comments at a council meeting this week after saying that he would like to see those involved in last Thursday’s violent Dublin riots “shot in the head”…

“I strongly believe that this is not the face of Ireland. This is just some criminals looting the shops. I don’t think they follow any ideological purpose. They come to the streets and just rob. They should get punishment.

“Not even an animal does these kind of thing. It is very shameful and they should get public punishment.

“I’d like to see them shot in the head or bring the public in and beat them until they die,” Cllr Talukder told council members.

So for everyone playing at home, Irish Lives Matter bad, shoot Irish protesters in the head good.

Make that make sense.