09/11/2001

Residents resume school protest in Ardoyne

Protestant residents in the Glenbryn area of north Belfast have resumed their protest outside the Holy Cross Primary School in Ardoyne on Friday afternoon.reacted angrily to a decision by parents of local school children to walk up the Ardoyne Road, claiming they were told parents had agreed to take their children to school via the Crumlin Road entrance because of the gesture by the protestors to call off the demonstration.

Although on Thursday the Glenbryn residents had agreed to call off the daily protest outside the Holy Cross Primary School, so that 15 local school children could concentrate in taking Friday’s 11 plus exam, the protest resumed on Friday afternoon.

Glenbryn residents said that parents verbally abused a number of Protestant mothers as they took their children to the Holy Cross Primary School.

Earlier in the day Father Aidan Troy, chairman of the Holy Cross Board of Governors, described the decision to call off the protest on Friday morning as "wise" as school children prepared to take their exams.

Protestant residents from the Glenbryn area of Ardoyne, where Holy Cross Girls' Primary School is situated, have been protesting since September against alleged attacks by the larger Catholic community in the area.

This week the protesters agreed with the police to move back slightly so that the police could dispense with wearing riot gear while escorting the pupils to school. (MB)

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