A man has been arrested in connection with an assault against LGBTQ+ activist Izzy Kamikaze outside Leinster House which left her with a serious head wound.

A man in his 20’s was arrested yesterday, Thursday 22 October, in Co Louth and taken to Pearse Street Garda Station in Dublin for questioning under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984. The suspect was then charged and appeared in the Criminal Courts of Justice this morning.

The assault on Izzy Kamikaze took place on September 12 by far-right activists attending an anti-mask protest. She was hit on the head with a wooden plank wrapped in a tricolour flag, causing an injury for which she was later treated at Tallaght hospital.

Following the assault, an open letter calling on the LGBTQ+ community to take a stand against “bullies, thugs and their enablers” and to show solidarity with Kamikaze was shared.

The letter read, “For years, we as members of the LGBTQ community have fought to carve out equal rights and establish safe public space for ourselves. In the past our community has experienced violence and discrimination but together we continued the struggle – leading to decriminalisation in 1993 and ultimately to marriage equality in 2015 in a landslide referendum result.

“Izzy Kamikaze has been at the vanguard of the struggle for these rights. She participated in, organised and led pride marches in 1980s Dublin, when to march down the streets as an openly gay person took both moral and physical courage. She has been a pioneer for the rights of marginalised people in this country.

“On Saturday 12th September Izzy was beaten on the street in front of our parliament by thugs. These men used a cudgel that they wrapped in a tricolour to do the damage. The symbolism of this should not be lost on any of us. These people want to remove us from the streets and from any public discourse. They want to drive us underground and steal away the very notion of our Irishness.

“We cannot stand by and watch as members of our community are beaten on the streets by far-right activists. This goes beyond party politics or ideology and so we call on members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies to take a stand.

“We must resist bullies, thugs and their enablers. We must stand up against violence and intimidation. We must stand in solidarity with Izzy – the very bravest of us all.”