Hundreds of people protested outside Ireland’s parliament on Thursday after the death of a Congolese-born man who was restrained outside a Dublin department store, in an incident drawing comparisons to the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
Yves Sakila was detained by security guards on one of the capital’s busiest shopping streets last Friday in connection with an alleged shoplifting incident, police said. He became unresponsive at the scene and was later pronounced dead.
Footage widely shared on social media shows Sakila pinned to the ground by at least five men for nearly five minutes as onlookers watched.
Two of the men appear to hold his face down, while another is seen kneeling on his head or neck for several seconds.
"We call this a George Floyd moment," said David Kaliba, a 35-year-old physics student who attended a north Dublin suburban high school with Sakila, referring to George Floyd, a Black man killed by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for several minutes during an arrest in May 2020.
Floyd’s death fueled the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and racism.
"I can't believe it happened in America in 2020 and happened in Ireland in 2026," said Kaliba, who, like Sakila, moved to Ireland from the Democratic Republic of Congo at a young age.
He described his former classmate, whom he said worked in IT before more recently becoming homeless, as quiet and shy, and not aggressive.
"When you look at that video, it is like a reenactment of what happened to George Floyd," said Yemi Adenuga, a spokesperson for Black Coalition Ireland.
Adenuga, a councillor for the governing Fine Gael party who became Ireland’s first elected Black female politician in 2019, said the government had failed to put in place proper measures to integrate the country’s growing number of immigrants, calling it "a recipe for chaos, anarchy and apathy."
There has been a sharp rise in anti-immigrant protests in Ireland in recent years. Anti-immigrant activists helped trigger large-scale rioting in central Dublin in 2023, near where Sakila died.
The video of his death has shocked the nation and been described by lawmakers as "distressing" and "disturbing." Prime Minister Micheál Martin reiterated calls Thursday for a thorough investigation, saying the manner of Sakila’s death has caused widespread concern across society.
Protesters outside parliament chanted "no cover-up, no delay." Some held signs reading "Justice" and "cead míle fáilte (the Irish phrase for welcome) is for everyone."
Police said Thursday that a post-mortem examination had been completed and that the results were not being released for operational reasons.
