"We don't all knock down stores," says Ibrahim Halawa as Tallaght comes together to clean up streets after storm

There's another side to Tallaght that he thinks we should see.

Following the the incident on Friday evening in which a digger was used to break into the Fortunestown Lane branch of Lidl in Tallaght, former prisoner, activist and Tallaght local Ibrahim Halawa has been attempting to change the current negativity directed towards the Dublin town.

Sharing via Twitter footage of locals clearing snow off the roads, Halawa wrote: "This is the true Tallaght in my area."

"Hand in hand, clearing a pathway for eachother. We don't we don't all knock down stores... We build and help."

This is the true Tallaght In my area hand in hand clearing a pathway for eachother we don’t all knock down stores ... we build and help. #tallaght #help #handinhand #hope #build #love #lidl pic.twitter.com/wme4mNu9eO — Ibrahim Halawa (@IbrahimHalawa13) March 4, 2018

Halawa's message comes after the robberies in Tallaght, which included a Centra in the Jobstown area, sparked a major backlash against the town, which is noted for being heavily working class.

In total, nine arrests were made after substantial damages were inflicted upon the supermarket and convenience store.


Footage also surfaced online of a digger being used to break open the Lidl store's safe after it was used to bulldoze part of the building.

Gardaí later confirmed that six people were arrested on the scene, with a further three arrested in Jobstown.

According to RTE News, Garda attempted to reach the scenes earlier, but their SUV was stuck in snow-drifts of up to five feet.

However, the first responding officers to arrive were then attacked by people at the scene, and the Gardaí drew batons and pepper spray for personal protection but did not use them and were forced to retreat.

Civil Defence and Defence Force trucks and snowploughs had to be utilised to bring Garda reinforcements to the scene and arrests were then made.