Hatred Greets N. Ireland Schoolkids

Terrified Roman Catholic schoolgirls clung to their parents Monday as riot police held back crowds of angry Protestants trying to keep them from walking to school through their neighborhood on the first day of classes.

The confrontation provoked clashes throughout the day, with violence building after dark as rival mobs of Protestant and Catholic men attacked police and homes.

The day’s tensions began in Ardoyne, a mostly Catholic district, where police wielding clubs, shields and attack dogs drove back Protestants who were trying to block a road outside a Catholic elementary school. A Catholic mother was hit in the face with a bottle and hospitalized.

Most of the pupils--girls as young as 4 wearing brand-new red uniforms--were sent home early, in tears, from Holy Cross Primary School. A fleet of Catholic-run black taxis ferried them past lines of police with helmets and shields, while many of the Protestants shouted curses and insults.

“It’s beyond my worst nightmare,” said the Rev. Aidan Troy, a Catholic priest who was appointed governor of the school during the summer vacation break. “The abuse I heard was unbelievable. It was one of the most savage experiences of my life.”

Local Protestants said that they were responding to Catholic attacks on their neighborhood, which is separated from the Catholic part of the district by high metal fences. Houses on both sides have been attacked in recent months with stones, gasoline and pipe bombs and even bursts of gunfire, prompting many residents to abandon their homes indefinitely.