Republican News · Thursday 10 January 2002

Holy Cross parents attacked

Trouble flared in North Belfast on Wednesday after Holy Cross parents were abused and attacked by loyalists, a provocation followed by attacks on the school itself and then on nationalist Ardoyne by loyalist mobs.

The loyalist violence caused the Board of Governors of Holy Cross to close the girls' primary school for at least one day. Chair of the Board of Governors, Fr Aidan Troy, said the Board made the decision for the best interests of the safety of the children and parents.

The latest trouble came after a woman collecting her daughter from the Holy Cross school on Wednesday afternoon was assaulted by a loyalist. As she moved to ward him off, his cronies set about her, leaving her with a black eye.

The loyalists had been hanging about verbally abusing and spitting at women making their way to the school at the end of lessons.

As news of the incident spread and parents made their way to the school, sirens and horns were sounded in Glenbryn and a car containing some loyalists and followed by a crowd of up to 30 others drove into the school grounds, blocking the gates. The loyalists then attacked the school.

Glenbryn residents then blocked the Ardoyne Road and forced a stand off. Pupils trapped in the school and their parents were eventually brought out through an emergency exit and were bussed from the school along the Crumlin Road to the Ardoyne Shops.

The trouble intensified as loyalists came out onto the Upper Ardoyne Road from Hesketh and another mob came from Twaddell Avenue. It was at this point that three nationalist men were hit by gunfire, believed to shot,gun blasts.

Speaking to An Phoblacht, Sinn Féin councillor for the area, Margaret McClenaghan, said one of the men was taken to hospital with serious head injuries.

The Mercy primary school on the Upper Crumlin Road was also attacked by loyalists and as the RUC/PSNI moved in, at least two nationalists were run over by Land Rovers. One suffered serious leg injuries. Another woman was injured in a hit and run by a car believed to be driven by loyalists.

Brendan Mailey of the Right to Education Group said that loyalists had been provoking parents as they walked along on the Ardoyne Road since the start of the new school term.

Sinn Féin Assembly member for the area, Gerry Kelly, said the attacks were clearly coordinated. "It is obvious to me by the way in which the mobs came out of Glenbryn, Twaddell Avenue and Hesketh at the sound of horns and sirens that loyalists were planning this. I blame the UDA. Their sectarian agenda is once again coming to the fore."