An anti-racism demonstration is planned for Ashtown in north-west Dublin this evening after a group of men dispersed a migrant camp on the banks of the River Tolka in the area at the weekend.

No arrests were made after the men entered the makeshift camp of homeless men and ordered the occupants to leave shortly before 1pm on Saturday.

The men living in the camp left it after the disturbance in which it was alleged the aggressors arrived with dogs, sticks and a baseball bat, shouting “get out” and “pack up now and get out now”.

One person living in the camp claimed to have been hit several times with a bat during the confrontation.

When challenged about their motives, the group claimed the migrants in the camp had been involved in an assault locally.

The camp of men, who are Polish, Croatian, Hungarian, Portuguese, Indian and Scottish, began last August in a forested area on the bank of the Tolka.

The men had no sanitary facilities and were cooking on open fires. Some of them said they became homeless after losing their jobs and being unable to afford their rent.

It has been reported that in recent days video footage of the camp had circulated on social media, with one video posted on Twitter drawing a lot of negative and threatening comments about the men and the camp.

A garda spokesman said no formal complaint had been made by any of the men living in the encampment, and there had been no complaint about the alleged earlier assault.

The camp now lies empty on the riverbank, with tents and belongings left behind. Several tents are stuffed with clothing and some personal belongings, and some tables and cooking equipment have also been left behind.

Former Solidarity TD for Dublin West, and anti-racist/anti-gender violence campaigner Ruth Coppinger, said the incident is “a sickening low in the spiral of recent racist acts that have been stirred up by far-right agitators”.

“The men living in the tents are of various EU and non-EU nationalities and had been working and renting here, but had become homeless. They are victims of the housing emergency in this country whereby successive governments have allowed landlords and vulture funds control housing supply and rents.

“Tents like this, with Irish and non-Irish homeless people, are now a common feature throughout Dublin 15 and the whole country,” she said.

“A pathetic attempt at justification for the attack was that the men had been involved in a sexual assault.

“Gardaí have said these men are not suspects in a rape. If there is any evidence that they are, it should be immediately reported.

“The fact the attack was preceded by vile and violent online racist commentary about burning out the campsite and attacking it with dogs confirms this was purely racist. Injecting racism into the serious issue of men’s violence against women is disgusting and serves absolutely nobody.

“It is a longstanding racist tactic to associate migrant men with rape. Gender-based violence is a global epidemic and Ireland has always had a significant problem of violence against women.”

She said that 16 women have been killed on the island since Ashling Murphy’s death last January, including, most recently, Maud Coffey in Ashtown, for which an Irish man has been charged and about which the far-right were noticeably silent..

“These racists don’t care about violence against women but are willing to use it for their own purposes. The far-right actually promote misogyny and extreme macho behaviour and add to the culture that breeds violence against women. They are backward, sexist and homophobic and would take women’s and LGBT rights back decades,” she added.

Ms Coppinger said the Dublin 15/7 Action Against Gender Violence group recently held a vigil in Ashtown following Ms Coffey’s killing and some of the members of that group are initiating a stand-out against racism in Ashtown this evening at 6pm.

“I would strongly appeal to the community and people throughout Dublin who are concerned about racism to mobilise for this stand-out and attend,” she said.

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said there has been an increase in the number of single men presenting for help from homeless services in the past year and he admitted the Government needs to “ramp up delivery for suitable accommodation for them, such as one-bedroom apartments”.