The violence and hatred directed at young Catholic girls and their parents during the Holy Cross school dispute in Belfast was compared yesterday to the treatment of American blacks in Alabama in the 1960s.
The comparison was made in the High Court at the opening of a case brought by the mother of a child at the school in Ardoyne.
Mr Justice Kerr had previously agreed to the woman being referred to as "E" because she feared her life would be in danger if her name was divulged. She challenged the Secretary of State and the Chief Constable over their alleged failure to provide effective protection to the children and their parents between June and November 2001.
Her lawyer, Mr Seamus Treacy,said the authorities had failed to prevent unlawful and violent protests orchestrated by loyalist paramilitaries. "This went on not for one day or one week but over a period of months," he said.
"The most basic human rights of the children were trampled upon with devastating and long-lasting consequences. The evidence is overwhelming that the authorities failed in their duty to secure fundamental rights to the parents and their children," Mr Treacy said.
This was borne out in affidavits from impeccable sources including headmasters and headmistresses, priests, school governors, human rights commissioners, doctors and parents, "even in the pitiful art work of the children themselves".
The lawyer referred to an affidavit sworn by Mr Terry Lavery, headmaster of Holy Cross Boys' School, who said he had worked in five schools in Belfast and had witnessed many disturbances, including pupils being killed. But he had never experienced anything like the happenings at Holy Cross. "It was more akin to the treatment of American blacks in Alabama in the 1960s," he said.
Mr Treacy said: "Even today the authorities still persist in refusing to acknowledge their breach of duty."
Mr Bernard McCloskey, for the respondents, rejected the allegations of a softly-softly approach by the police and said a senior officer had stated there was no policing solution to the dispute.
There was also a fear that if more vigorous tactics were employed against the loyalist protesters more serious violence would break out in other parts of north Belfast, and other schools might be targeted.
The hearing is due to end today, and judgment is expected to be reserved.