RUC school scandal
Pupils of a Catholic girls school in West Belfast were last week
used in a sinister propaganda exercise by the RUC. The party of
thirty teenagers, all pupils of St Louise's School, were left in
the hands of the RUC for almost five hours without their own or
their parents' approval. They were driven through loyalist areas
in two undercover RUC minibuses.
The group of Lower Sixth formers, aged between sixteen and
seventeen, had been told that they were going on a retreat to
Benburb Priory last Thursday 10 November. They were asked to make
their way to the city centre's ABC cinema for 8.30 in the
morning. There the thirty youngsters boarded two minibuses which
the school had apparently laid on for the trip.
There were two men, in plainclothes, on each bus. While one
drove, the other accompanied the party to Benburb. St Louise's
vice-principal, Mairead O'Halloran, did not travel on either bus,
but drove on ahead in her personal car.
Despite there being a quicker route to Benburb over the Westlink,
the buses travelled through the loyalist areas of Sandy Row and
the Village.
Phoblacht 17 November 1988
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