Belfast appeal after school clash

Terrified children are shielded by riot police on their way to school in Ardoyne

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- The governors of a Belfast Catholic primary school are urging parents to take their children by an alternative route after violence plagued the start of the new term.

Riot police clashed on Monday with a crowd of Protestant activists blocking the entrance to a Catholic junior school.

Furious protesters hurled bricks, bottles and fireworks at the police, venting their anger at alleged attacks on the Protestant community in the predominantly Catholic district of Ardoyne in northern Belfast.

Police used clubs and shields to force a clear pathway for parents to escort their children, some as young as four, through the front entrance of the Holy Cross Girls Primary school.

Brendan Mailey, spokesman for the Right to Education Committee, said about 150 parents listened attentively throughout the two-hour meeting with the school governors on Monday.

"I think most parents will wait until the morning and see what the situation is before making up their minds. That is what I'm doing myself," he told the Press Association.

"The committee is not there to direct parents in what they should do. We will always leave that decision to the parents."

Earlier, the governors said they would be recommending that the children use the back entrance to the school, avoiding the loyalist Glenbryn area.

The chairman, Fr Aidan Troy, told PA: "If tomorrow morning a little girl was hit with a bottle, as I was nearly hit this morning, and somebody said to me 'Did you not say anything?', I don't think I could hold my head up."

Mailey said many parents used the meeting to vent their anger at the loyalist protests and the response of the police, Royal Ulster Constabulary.

"They were saying how bad the RUC's so-called protection was. They compared it to July 12 when two Orange bands walked down the road and nationalists were batoned off the streets.

"We have to say that the parents do not want the RUC batoning people off the road. They want discussions on how to resolve this issue."

The RUC also came under criticism from loyalists who claimed heavy-handed policing had exacerbated the situation.

But RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan brushed aside the complaints, vowing that his officers would be on hand on Tuesday to do everything possible to ensure that the children get to school.

Monday's meeting followed a sinister warning from the Red Hand Defenders to parents to stay away from the area on Tuesday. Police were also threatened by the loyalist terror grouping.

Meanwhile, rioting erupted between rival gangs of nationalists and loyalists in north Belfast on Monday night.

Petrol bombs and blast bombs were thrown as the sectarian violence that has plagued the north of the city throughout the summer reignited.

Unionist politicians blamed republicans for orchestrating the violence that broke out in the Ardoyne, Limestone Road and Whitewell areas.

But Sinn Fein blamed the largest loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association.

About 600 people have been involved in rioting in the area throughout the summer as tensions reached boiling point in Ardoyne where the Protestant minority live alongside the Catholic community.

The riots come amid widespread dispute over policing reforms proposed as part of an overall package designed by the British and Irish governments aimed at breaking the deadlocked peace process in Northern Ireland.

The Police Implementation Plan, designed to replace the RUC with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, has come under fire from both Protestants and Catholics, who say it does not bridge the gap between republican and loyalist demands for a joint approach to policing.