GANGS of youths are laying in wait to attack college students out socialising in the Milk Market area of the city on a nightly basis.
That’s according to Fianna Fáil councillor and local taxi driver Azad Talukder who spoke at this week’s Metropolitan District area meeting about witnessing violent ambushes outside pubs and nightclubs in Limerick.
Cllr Talukder claimed that this was happening every night as large groups of young men gather solely to assault young students, many of whom are away from home for the first time.
“Every night we are calling the guards because other people are beating up students,” Cllr Talukder told council members.
“One night, myself and a bouncer had to help save two guys who were attacked by 15 to 20 people who had no business being there.
“The two guys, who were from Clare, said there was no way they were coming back here again. This is not the impression we want people to have.
“We called the guards but after about 40 minutes, no one turned up. Why can’t they take action?
“The guards need to be here to make the city safer at nighttime. This is a very frightening experience for students on a night out.”
The City West representative went on to suggest that by having more taxis in the Milk Market area at night, students out socialising could access cabs outside the city’s nightspots faster and get home safely and without incident.
“We always say that Limerick is student friendly but we need to do more to make it safer,” Cllr Talukder told the Limerick Post after this Monday’s meeting.
“Students always get a bad name. But the people carrying out these attacks aren’t students. They are young men in their early twenties. They hang around outside the nightclubs and chippers late at night to cause trouble. It is very easy to identify them, anyone could do it, and the guards need to do more to keep students safe because they are the victims here.
“Also, if more taxi ranks were in place at nighttime, say from 10pm onwards, students could get a cab quickly after their night out. There is only 10 or 12 taxis in the rank there at present so more ranks would help. Something needs to be done,” he concluded.
