Gardaí have confirmed that a man in his late teens who threw a brick at the window of Pantibar has been released without charge and that the incident is being treated as criminal damage.

A Garda spokesperson said:

“A man in his late teens was arrested near to the scene and taken to Store Street Garda station. He has since been released without charge and a file is being prepared for the DPP.”

It has also emerged through an investigation by Storyful in partnership with The Times, that the man had posted about his intent to perform the “hate crime” on 4chan.

4chan is an online forum which is widely regarded as the birthplace of online culture which became the alt-right movement.

At 10.37 pm, the poster wrote: “About to commit a hate crime lads it involves a stone and some piteoga wish me luck xxx”. At 10.43 pm they wrote: “There’s a lot of faggots and bouncers here actually not sure if I have the bollocks to chuck it.” At 10:52 pm: “Jesus Christ there’s about 100 people outside, I could make a clean getaway if I didn’t think I’d freeze up.”

When someone asked what they were talking about, the poster replied at 10.57 pm: “I want to throw a brick through the window of this busy gay bar.”

At 11:41 pm, Rory O’Neill tweeted a picture of the brick, closely followed by a second tweet explaining that the bar manager Shane and bouncer Aaron had caught the man while he was running from the police.

Word of advice: never return to the scene of the crime.
Brick tosser already caught – by bar manager Shane and bouncer Aaron while he was running from the cops! Idiot already arrested.
Young closet… sorry… I mean young guy. 😄
Why'd he do it?
"I don't fuckin like dem" etc

— Dr Panti Bliss-Cabrera (@PantiBliss) June 29, 2018

A number of other 4chan users then replied to the earlier anonymous message in support of the attack, referring to him as a “hero” and a “legend”.

This attack once again highlights the need for hate crime legislation as Ireland remains the only western European jurisdiction without standard hate crime legislation.

Senator Fintan Warfield has previously called on the Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan to “bring forward robust hate crime legislation as a matter of urgency.”