Protests will go on, vow loyalists

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

Even though the latest demonstration passed off without incident they claim their opposition will continue.

Their latest statement comes before a meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid.

Protestant residents stood in silence as the children were given a police escort to the gates of Holy Cross School, but the parents met with a deafening noise of whistles and horns as they returned through the Glenbryn area to the neighbouring Ardoyne district.

Community worker Jim Potts, who is heavily involved in the demonstration, said he did not believe the protests would not stop.

He claimed: "Part of the problem is that there are known Provisional IRA men walking up and down this road and the community know the crimes they are suspected of."

Northern Ireland officials and representatives of the residents are not expecting any major breakthrough at the meeting - but Dr Reid is likely to try to calm concerns and the fears of Protestant families who claim they are the victim of Republican attacks, threats and intimidation.

Clutching the hands of parents and grandparents, more than 150 young girls walked the 450 yards through a cordon of police and Army vehicles to the school.

Protesters held aloft posters and some turned their backs as the procession snaked its way up the road.

They claimed one man had been questioned about the murder last year of a Protestant taxi driver in the area, Trevor Kells.