Q&A: Belfast school violence

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Violence returned to haunt the Holy Cross primary school in north Belfast on Wednesday as a riot broke out between Catholics and Protestants.

The area around the school had been the scene of clashes last year, but it had been hoped the situation had been resolved with an agreement forged by Northern Ireland politicians in November.

Q: Why did the riots break out again on Wednesday?

A: There are conflicting claims from both sides, but police say it was a row between two women which sparked the violence. They say officers moved in to break up a confrontation after a Catholic mother on her way to collect her daughter from the school was challenged by a Protestant woman.

Police say the violence then began, with both sides turning on police trying to end the violence.

But North Belfast Assembly member Billy Hutchinson of the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party said people in the area were blaming Catholic parents for starting the trouble.

"Apparently Holy Cross parents were coming down the road when some young guy bumped into a woman. She took exception to this and called a group of men up," he told the UK Press Association.

On the other side, the republican Sinn Fein party, mainly Catholic, said loyalists had verbally and physically abused parents.

Police said the violence was orchestrated by paramilitaries using mobile phones.

Q: Hadn't the protests by Protestants outside the school been suspended?

A: Tension in the area has remained despite the agreement and violence has returned just days into the new school term.

The protests were suspended in November after negotiations involving Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble, the Protestant leader of the Ulster Unionists, and his Catholic deputy Mark Durkan.

The talks led to a package of community safety measures including closed circuit television and more police patrols. The North Belfast Community Action Research Project was established to develop a confidence building process. The security presence was scaled down as a result of the deal.

Chief Inspector Murray Sterritt said at the time: "We would be fairly confident that things will continue to go well from what I've heard from both communities. Everyone is pushing to get this resolved."

Q: What is the future for the school?

A: Father Aidan Troy, chairman of the school's board of governors, said on Wednesday he feared "we could be back to square one again."

He said there had been tension on the road since pupils returned to school on Monday and that children were taken away from the school by bus to ensure their safety.

Troy said he feared the loyalist blockade could resume at the school. "It's looking awfully like it to me. I just hope I'm wrong," he said.

The school was closed on Thursday, with staff due to meet to discuss the situation later in the day. It is not yet known if the children will return to class tomorrow.

But Troy said he hoped the school would not have to close. "That is not the sort of message we want to send out. Everyone of goodwill wants to keep the school open and move the situation forward, but the tensions here today are worse than ever."

Q: Why did a school for girls aged four to 11 become such a flashpoint?

A. The Ardoyne is a tough working class area of North Belfast which once was home to a mixed Catholic and Protestant population. But over the 30 years of the troubles in Northern Ireland, partly because of safety and partly because of attacks on homes, the two communities have divided into sectarian enclaves.

In this process the Holy Cross school, a school for Catholics, found itself in the wrong place. Isolated in a Protestant area, Glenbryn, it became a symbol to both factions and a focal point of tension. In the reverse of recent disputes about Orange marches it is about the right of Catholics to walk on what Protestants consider "their" streets.

Catholic parents taking their children to school were accused of flaunting republican symbols and taunting local Protestants.

Making matters worse, the Protestant areas of the otherwise overwhelmingly Catholic Ardoyne have long been seen as a base for loyalist paramilitaries with a reputation for violence.

The Red Hand Defenders, who admit being behind much of the current violence, are a loyalist group formed from members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) opposed to the Good Friday Agreement.

Q: What provoked the violence last year?

A. Republicans were accused of deliberately knocking over two youths on ladders who were putting UFF flags on lampposts outside the Holy Cross school in advance of an Orange Order (Protestant) march in June.

In return, loyalists blockaded the entrance to the school, preventing Catholic children from entering, and forcing terrified parents and children to retreat into the playground.

This was followed by several nights of heavy rioting and some of the worst violence in Northern Ireland this year with 60 policemen injured.

Community leaders failed to agree on moves to defuse the tension at that time. The dispute was temporarily abated by the summer holidays, but the violence began again this week when the new school year began in September.

Q: How did the Protestants of the Ardoyne justify the abusing of small children?

A. Protestants, who are a minority in the Ardoyne, said their protests were in retaliation for attacks on their homes by Catholics.

They claimed republicans were trying to force them out of the area and that they were acting to defend their area against Catholic encroachment.

They also claimed the children were being used as a cover for members of paramilitary republican groups to enter Protestant areas and to abuse and threaten them.

Many were unrepentant about the violence, openly supporting the UFF and saying they need the paramilitaries for protection.

They were critical of the police, accusing them of being heavy handed and not doing enough to protect them.

Q: Why did the Catholics continue to put their children through the ordeal of braving the protests?

A. The parents were told last year by the governors and police to take their children to school by a longer route through nationalist streets and enter the building through a rear entrance. They said it was their fundamental right to take their children to school by the most direct route.

They said going in through the back door would be handing victory to the loyalists and that they were prepared to take the risks involved to take a stand on a matter of principle.

Q: What did the police say at the time the protests began?

A. Officers said they would uphold the rights of pupils to get to school.

Royal Ulster Constabulary chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan condemned Ardoyne rioters as "murderous scum" and blamed loyalist paramilitaries for orchestrating the clashes.

Alan McQuillan, the RUC Assistant Chief Constable for Belfast, said it was a disgrace that they had to try to build a safe corridor to get children through. He warned the protesters that his officers would be there every day to ensure the pupils got to class.