Parents meet over Ardoyne school row

Parents of children in Ardoyne, north Belfast are holding a meeting to decide their next move after loyalists blocked the road leading to a local Catholic primary school this morning.

Overnight, there was serious rioting in the area and this morning loyalists refused to allow parents to bring their children to the school’s front gates.

The PUP’s Billy Hutchinson has accused republicans of rejecting a compromise offered allowing parents to walk down one side of the road but nationalists say the offer was never formalised and was unacceptable anyway.

This morning the road was blocked again although about 50 schoolgirls whose parents brought them through another school via the back door did get to class.

Meetings are underway to resolve the problem, but there are fears of more violence tonight with a week of term still to go.