Pipe bomb found as school protest called off
A pipe bomb has been found after loyalists called off their protest at the Holy Cross Primary School.
It was discovered in the back garden of a house about 600 yards from the north Belfast Catholic school.
Army bomb disposal experts were called in to defuse the device in Alliance Avenue.
Police have confirmed it was a pipe bomb-type device - of the kind used in hundreds of loyalist paramilitary attacks against Catholics - and appealed for anyone who noticed suspicious activity overnight to come forward.
Meanwhile, the schoolgirls' walk to school passed without incident following a decision by Protestant residents to suspend their daily protests. That followed negotiations with Stormont First and Deputy First Ministers which resulted in a package of measures for the area.
A handful of loyalists stood around observing as groups of parents and children walked the 400 yards to the primary school. But the security presence was dramatically scaled down as a result of the deal.
Chief Inspector Murray Sterritt said there was one unit in Ardoyne Road compared with eight at the height of the protest.
"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."
First to walk up the road was Tracy McLaughlin and her five-year-old daughter Megan. Mrs McLaughlin said the atmosphere is still very strained: "It seems very weird," she said. "It's like walking through the valley of the dead. This place will never seem the same again."
