Parents vow to end unrest at school

Catholic parents are to step up efforts to end the violence gripping North Belfast.

The move comes after they were again blocked from taking their children to school past Protestant houses.

The parents say they will try again to speak with community leaders on the loyalist side, who have so far refused to hold discussions.

An uneasy calm has returned to the Ardoyne area following earlier confrontations when scores of women and children were halted by the RUC as they made their way towards Holy Cross School.

Gerard McCabe, whose seven-year-old daughter Gemma is too frightened to attend school while the trouble continues, says: "We have to get this sorted through our community leaders.

"We will be trying over the weekend to talk to them."

Several RUC vehicles remain stationed on the Ardoyne Road interface following a second night of clashes which have left more than 60 officers injured.

Crowds who gathered on the Protestant side as the parents remonstrated with security personnel had dispersed, leaving the area virtually deserted.

But as some Catholic mothers continued to complain bitterly about the barrier, Sinn Fein Assembly member Gerry Kelly repeated calls for loyalist paramilitaries to step down.

"The UDA has to withdraw this blockade," he said. "They are on a loser because no one will support them stopping kids going to school."