Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- And self-determination.... Tuesday September 4, 9:18 AM Catholic pupils face gauntlet of hate in N.Ireland BELFAST, Sept 4 (AFP) - Catholic children Tuesday feared another gauntlet of hate during their journey to school, a day after violent sectarian protests terrified pupils walking to lessons through a Protestant area of Belfast. The governors of Holy Cross Primary School urged parents to take their children to lessons by an alternative route in order to avoid more disturbances which Monday saw a mother and 15 police officers injured by missiles. The Red Hand Defenders, a loyalist paramilitary group, warned Catholic parents to stay away from the main route to the school. Pupils aged four to 11 were left in tears after they were subjected to torrents of abuse as they walked through a gauntlet of Protestant demonstrators as they returned to classes after summer holidays. Police used screens and riot shields to open a pathway for the youngsters and their parents. Local loyalists see Catholics' use of the main route to the school as an encroachment into a Protestant area. On Monday evening tensions escalated as rival gangs of Catholics and Protestants hurled petrol bombs, bricks and bottles at each other in the Ardoyne Road area, and several shots were fired. It was the latest episode in a stream of sectarian unrest that has plagued the north of the city throughout the summer. A police spokesman said several officers had been injured by stones during attempts to quell the rioting. None of the injuries was believed to be serious. Nationalists and loyalists blamed each other for starting the latest violence. Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), put the blame on the largest loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). The UDA has in the past used the Red Hand Defenders as a cover name. Meanwhile, Nigel Dodds, a parliamentary deputy of the Democratic Unionist Party, said he saw petrol bombs and blast bombs being thrown by nationalist mobs into the loyalist White City Estate. A police spokeswoman confirmed that a pipe bomb had exploded in the garden of a house. Sinn Fein's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said UDA attacks on the Catholic community were designed to provoke the IRA into retaliation. The governors of Holy Cross School urged parents to take their children by an alternative route Tuesday morning in a bid to avoid more violence. The chairman of governors, Aidan Troy, said: "If tomorrow morning a little girl was hit with a bottle ... and somebody said to me 'Did you not say anything?', I don't think I could hold my head up." The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the province's police force, came under fire from loyalists who claimed heavy-handed policing had exacerbated the situation, while Catholics said police had not provided enough protection for parents and pupils. But RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan brushed aside the complaints, vowing that his officers would be on hand Tuesday to do everything possible to ensure that the children get to school. Standing amid the broken glass which littered the school gates, Holy Cross Principal Anne Tanney had described the protesters as "sick". "A lot of the children were too traumatised to stay here and that's the worst thing that could have happened to them," she said. "No child should have to endure that." Monday's unrest came at a delicate stage in Northern Ireland's troubled peace process, coinciding with the latest meeting between Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble and his hardline Democratic Unionist Party counterpart Reverend Ian Paisley on police reforms proposed by the British government, a key issue in the peace process. The primarily Catholic republicans and nationalists want to unite Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic, while mostly Protestant loyalists and unionists back continued rule by Britain over the province. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
