Irish schoolgirls run from violence on walk to school

by Beth Conahan

orderly. The fourth day brought only whistles and air news editor horns from the Protestants. No rocks thrown. No ob-

Some are just toddlers. They range in ages from 4 to 11. And they all share one terrible fear of the people who live down the street. The people who have thrown rocks at them, screamed obscenities at them and threatened their safety on several occasions.

They are 150 little Catholic girls who run to the Holy Cross Girls Primary School afraid of the Protestant proteste;s who have pulled Northern Ireland back into the headlines.

Monday, Sept. 3 re-ignited Catholic/Protestant tensions in Belfast when hard-line Protestants tried to block the main entrance of the scenities screamed.

Catholic parents and children could easily avoid the taunts and jeers of the Protestant protesters. Placards held by protesters say, "No denial of the right to education-there is an alternative route." The protesters want the girls to enter the school through the back entrance away from Protestant homes.

The protesters claim their actions are retaliation for attacks by Catholics on Protestant homes. The Catholic community makes the same claims against the Protestants.

Not only could the events of this month affect the children's school screaming insults and obscenities at the dozens of young girls dressed in bright red jumpers and black

Good Friday Agreement, which allowed for a power-sharing local administration of Catholics and Protestants, a peace accord that hoped to end the violence in the British-ruled province, but it has incited responses globally. skirts.

Erected over 30 years ago, the school's front gate has the bad luck of lying in a Protestant section of North Belfast, a section