The residents of the loyalist Glenbryn estate in Ardoyne, north Belfast, have agreed to suspend their long-running protest outside the Catholic Holy Cross primary school today while the children sit their 11-plus exam.

Loyalists in north Belfast are considering moves to tone down their picket this week of Catholic schoolchildren and their parents, a source close to the protest claimed tonight.

There have been more clashes between Protestants and Catholics in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.

There were angry scenes at the Holy Cross School in Ardoyne this morning as Catholic parents walked to school to see their children take part in a Halloween fancy dress party.

The RUC is investigating a suspected pipe-bomb attack on a Catholic home in Alliance Avenue in north Belfast.

Protestant residents tonight offered to end the Holy Cross protests in north Belfast if Catholic children and parents went to school by bus.

Stormont Security Minister Jane Kennedy has announced a series of measures in a bid to stem sectarian attacks in the Ardoyne area.

Hardline Catholics have reportedly sent hate mail to some of the loyalist protestors involved in the six-week-old dispute outside Holy Cross primary school in north Belfast.

A human rights chief was set to accompany Catholic parents and children on the disputed school walk in north Belfast today as loyalists faced the threat of legal action in a bid to force them to end their protests.

Children should be allowed to travel to school free from any harassment in Northern Ireland, Stormont Education Minister Martin McGuinness insisted today.

At least two police officers were injured when serious loyalist rioting broke out in north Belfast tonight.

Loyalist protestors threw fireworks at the parents of children attending the Holy Cross girls’ primary school in north Belfast this morning, according to the RUC.

Loyalist protestors at the Holy Cross Catholic School in North Belfast threw fireworks at school children as they walked home from school this afternoon.

The six men who were charged with public order offences in north Belfast were today banned by a court from taking further part in Loyalist protests at the Holy Cross primary school in Ardoyne area.

Children involved in the long-running dispute at Holy Cross Primary School in Northern Ireland will get hurt unless the loyalist protests end, it was claimed today.

Residents of the loyalist Glenbryn estate in north Belfast have withdrawn from talks with the British Government in protest at the arrest of eight men yesterday.

Catholic children and parents at the centre of the north Belfast school walk protests today held a prayer service and a minute’s silence for the thousands of victims of the terrorist outrage in the United States.

Richard Haas, the special adviser to President Bush, is to meet the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern this afternoon.

Protesting loyalist residents in north Belfast have held an hour-long meeting with the board of governors of Holy Cross School for the first time in over a week.

Loyalists say there will be no end to the protests against schoolchildren and their Catholic parents in north Belfast.

Former US Senator George Mitchell, who helped broker the Good Friday Agreement, has expressed confidence in the Irish peace process, despite the impending crisis facing it.