Fifteen minutes of terror in Belfast

Roman Catholic girls and their parents make their way through a Protestant area to Holy Cross school

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- CNN's Matthew Chance was in the Ardoyne Road in north Belfast on Wednesday morning, when Protestant anger spilled over onto a Catholic school run for the third straight day. He explains the tension on the street.

Q: What is the scene in north Belfast?

A: The situation is tense, the security forces are still waiting in the streets, on the alert for any violence. It is very volatile and things could change very quickly.

What is most striking about this story is that over all the years of sectarian conflict and hatred in Northern Ireland, what is new and disturbing is that children are at the centre of it.

They are taking the brunt of the sectarian violence, and for many people I have spoken to, that is sickening.

MORE STORIES • Police injured in Belfast school blast   • Parents recall bomb horror   • Q&A: Belfast school violence     EXTRA INFORMATION In-depth: Conflict and hope in Northern Ireland   • Gallery: Running the gauntlet of hate     RESOURCES Message board: Northern Ireland     AUDIO CNN's Matthew Chance: Parents and children shaken and upset 1.58 MB / 2 mins 27 secs WAV sound GMTV's John Stapleton reports on the bomb blast in Ardoyne Road 1.66 MB / 2 mins 34 secs WAV sound

The violence has been condemned across the political and the religious divide. The violence is something that most people do not want to see in Northern Ireland.

Q: How frightened are the children?

A: Some of these children are absolutely terrified, gripping the hands of parents with all their strength. Their mothers try to cover their eyes and ears from the insults and rocks thrown at the children.

The bomb on Wednesday was frightening. When it went off a number of police officers were injured, and parents and children were screaming. I was standing among the Catholics at the time, and there was a great sense of panic.

Q: What is the feeling between the two different communities?

A: Certainly, there is hatred -- not just among the Protestants but the Catholics as well.

Protestants say the children are being used as a cover by members of the Irish Republican Army to venture into their area, to taunt and threaten them. They blame the Catholics for what they say is provocation.

The two communities are living cheek to cheek with all this suspicion of each other. The situation is going to be tense in places like this -- these interface areas where opposing communities are living on top of each other.

Clearly, there is a lot of anger and hatred between the two communities. For those throwing the stones, there is the feeling that the Catholics are taking over their community, while the Catholics feel bitterness for what they see as Protestant privileges.

Matthew Chance

The current area of conflict is only about 100 metres in length. The parents and children gather at one end and move in one orderly block under the protection of the police. The army is on the edge trying to keep back the Protestants.

It is 15 minutes of extreme anger and noise -- 15 minutes of anxiety and abject terror for the children. It is a dangerous situation where the children are at risk.

A lot of talks are under way to try and find what to do. There are calls for interested parties to sit down and fight it out once and for all.

One suggestion is that the school board of governors should close its front entrance and force parents not to go through the Protestant area.