WATCH: Video portal connecting New York to Dublin goes horribly wrong

A project aimed at connecting New York and Dublin through live video portals has failed after scenes around the portals turned chaotic, the HuffPost reported.

Last week, a circular, eight-foot-wide screen weighing 3.5 tonnes was erected in each city, broadcasting live video from New York’s Flatiron District to Dublin’s busy O’Connell Street, and vice versa.

The Big Apple’s chief public realm officer, Ya-Ting Liu, marveled at how “two amazing global cities” were “connected in real time and space”. 

Dublin’s lord mayor, Daithí de Róiste, said he hoped his citizens would “extend an Irish welcome and kindness to cities all over the world.”

However, while some charming interactions resulted from the portal, including a mother-daughter reunion and cross-continental dance-offs, several people carried out inappropriate acts and displayed swastikas.

Some Dubliners used the portals to play video of the Twin Towers in flames on September 11, 2001.

According to CNN, the Dublin portal has been temporarily shut down after the Dublin city council announced it would be making changes to the portal to combat bad behaviour.

The New York-Dublin connection was the second set of portals to be built. 

The first two were unveiled in May 2021, linking the cities of Vilnius, Lithuania, and Lublin, Poland.