Protesters stay away as Holy Cross children return
Loyalist protesters stayed away as children at the flashpoint Holy Cross Primary School returned to class today.
Unlike a year ago - when they had to run a gauntlet of sectarian abuse and pipe bombs - parents and their daughters were peacefully escorted from the Catholic lower Ardoyne area through the nearby Glenbryn district.
Security was also scaled down, even though republicans were accused of attempting to provoke trouble after being blamed for a petrol bomb attack on a house last night across the peaceline into Glenbryn.
Some nervous parents who walked their children up the disputed Ardoyne Road in north Belfast voiced relief that the school run had passed without incident.
After leaving her six-year-old daughter Natasha at the school gates, Geraldine Murphy said: “I was very nervous as usual because I didn’t know what to expect.
“It’s quiet but very tense, I just hope it stays like this.”
Loyalist residents began their picket 12 months ago in protest at what they claimed was unacceptable and confrontational behaviour by some adults coming into their neighbourhood from the lower Ardoyne.
Their blockades lasted for three months before Northern Ireland First Minister and Deputy First Minister, David Trimble and Mark Durkan, stepped in to end the dispute.
In the meantime, the fear and terror generated by last year’s confrontation has seen enrolment figures at Holy Cross drop significantly for the start of the new school term.
But Alban McGuinness, the SDLP Assembly member for North Belfast, welcomed the peaceful start and voiced hope that better days lay ahead.
He said: “It’s a sunny day and I think that the sunshine reflects the change in attitude of the people here.
“A peaceful atmosphere and normal ways the children went to school bodes well for the rest of this term. Nobody could fail but be heartened by this new start.”
However, simmering tensions were still evident between the two communities.
Lollipop lady Amanda Johnston, who was forced to stop escorting Holy Cross girls to school after voicing support for the Glenbryn residents, claimed there were more parents walking up the route today than normal.
Ms Johnston, who still looks after pupils at the neighbouring protestant Wheatfield Primary School, said: “There were hundreds of them.
“This is just to get the media’s attention on Holy Cross and to prove it’s right to do this.
“They are just out really to annoy the people of this community because we know it doesn’t happen like this everyday.”
