Irish Government Moves To Crackdown On Free Speech After Anti-Immigration Riot Authored by Jonathan Turley, We have previously discussed the growing anti-free speech movement in Ireland. As discussed in The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in the Age of Rage, these crackdowns on free speech tend to come with periods of public  panic or anger. Anti-free speech advocates use such periods as opportunities to get the public to surrender this core right to government censors or prosecutors. Right on schedule, Ireland is now pushing one of the most chilling crackdowns to date. The excuse for the latest rollback of free speech was a riot in Dublin leading to the arrest of 34 people and extensive property damage in anti-immigration protests.  The protests have challenged the government policies on handling undocumented migrants. The bill criminalizes any “preparing or possessing material likely to incite violence or hatred against persons on account of their protected characteristics.”  That includes any material concerning national or ethnic origin, as well as protected characteristics including “transgender and a gender other than those of male and female.” The bill includes crimes relating to “xenophobia” and can be committed merely by the”public dissemination or distribution of tracts, pictures or other material.” Elon Musk has flagged the law as have other free speech advocates. Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar has rushed to ride the political wave after the recent Dublin riot to announce that he would fight hatred by taking away rights.  He declared his intent to “modernize laws against hatred” by criminalizing speech that his government decides is “incitement.” He insisted that the existing legislation is “not up to date for the social media age” and needs to have a broad reach of criminalized speech. He wants to crackdown not just on violence but on those who say things that might “stir up” others. What was