Protestant schoolchildren joined in the loyalist protest at Glenbryn in north Belfast yesterday, jeering and whistling at the Holy Cross Primary schoolchildren as they walked home with their parents.
The loyalist protest yesterday was otherwise restrained although jibes continued to be made at the parents and children. One woman protester shouted: "We've got your nerves wrecked," in an apparent reference to the psychological problems, from nightmares to bed-wetting, that are besetting the Holy Cross children as a result of their daily ordeal.
Local representatives and the Ardoyne GP, Dr Michael Tan, are attempting to secure professional help to deal with the problems of the Ardoyne children caught up in the school protest. Dr Tan reported this week he was concerned about long-term problems for the children.
Another woman yesterday indicated the intention of the protesters to continue their campaign, shouting at the mothers: "Have you got your Christmas trees yet?"
The Catholic mothers seem determined to continue to use their traditional route to the school past the protesters, whose numbers and behaviour fluctuate. Yesterday four of the women protesters were dressed in "Mexican" attire of sombreros and ponchos and pretended to play guitars and maracas.
It was not immediately clear why the Protestant primary and secondary pupils joined the protest for the return of the Holy Cross children at around 3 p.m.
However, sources in the Protestant community said later there was growing concern about the continuing attacks on buses carrying Protestant children to school in north Belfast. On Tuesday, the sources said, a bus carrying pupils from schools in Ballysillan, past Ardoyne, was attacked by four youths throwing stones. Several windows in the bus were broken and pupils were showered with glass fragments.
Another minor riot broke out yesterday afternoon at the Twaddell Avenue/Crumlin Road intersection, which is the main flashpoint between Ardoyne and Upper Shankill, as some Protestant teenagers were returning towards the Shankill.
The security situation in north Belfast is now the single largest drain on RUC operational resources. The Police Authority of Northern Ireland, which is expected shortly to give way to the new Police Board, reported yesterday that spending in July for policing was £50.8 million sterling, representing 36 per cent of overall spending for the year.
The force is now anticipating additional expenditure of £22 million sterling, mostly on overtime relating to the security situation in north Belfast. The authority estimated that overspending in relation to overtime this year will be £20 million sterling. In July alone police worked more than twice their normal hours.
The RUC is also hit by personnel shortages caused by high levels of sickness leave which have increased dramatically in the past year. The RUC has to draw mobile support units (MSUs) from all over Northern Ireland to contain the protesters at Glenbryn.
The shepherding of the Catholic schoolchildren and their parents past the Glenbryn protesters requires three operations: one in the morning, one at lunchtime for the junior infants and one at 2.30 to 3 p.m. for rest of the children.
Each operation entails the deployment of up to 200 police in riot gear with armoured Land Rovers.
There are also three armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and armoured Land Rovers that face the Holy Cross families as they begin their walk. Soldiers armed with rifles also face the children as they begin their walk through the armoured cordon.
Talks between the residents' associations from Glenbryn and Ardoyne earlier this week failed to bring any resolution.
The Glenbryn protesters are seeking the installation of a large armoured gate at the entrance of Ardoyne Road onto Alliance Avenue where the families gather each day before embarking on their walk to Holy Cross.
The Northern Ireland Office Security Minister, Ms Jane Kennedy, turned this proposal down on Wednesday but did agree to the building of a large security fence between the Catholic houses on Alliance Avenue where they back on to the Protestant Glenbryn estate.
Patsy McGarry adds:
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has called for an end to the protest at the Holy Cross school in North Belfast.
"Whilst recognising that loyalist protests may have their roots in fear and bitterness over what has been happening to their parts of the community, the general board of the Presbyterian Church has commended all those seeking a resolution to the disputes across the interfaces in Belfast, calling for an end to all violence and harassment which it describes as a feature of life in interface areas of Belfast," it said in a statement yesterday.
The statement followed a meeting of the general board in Belfast.