World

Northern Ireland Unrest Continues

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 14, 2002 / 2:47 PM EST / CBS

Hundreds of police and soldiers guarded schools across bitterly divided north Belfast on Monday after Protestant militants who claimed responsibility for the killing of a Catholic man over the weekend threatened to target Catholic teachers.

The tight security also followed arson attacks on two Catholic schools in Northern Ireland overnight. A mobile classroom was badly damaged by fire at a high school in Lisburn, southwest of Belfast, and a classroom at a primary school in south Belfast was damaged. Its walls and four cars parked nearby were also daubed with paint.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but attention focused on an outlawed Protestant group, the Red Hand Defenders, which claimed responsibility for the fatal shooting of postal worker Daniel McColgan, 20, at a sorting office in a Protestant area on Saturday.

On Friday, the group announced that it considers Catholic teachers, postal workers and prison officers to be "legitimate targets" in its ongoing campaign of sectarian violence.

Police believe the name Red Hand Defenders is used by members of Northern Ireland's largest illegal paramilitary group, the Protestant Ulster Defense Association, and other outlawed Protestant groups.

The British province's Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan said his officers were taking "very clear steps" to protect pupils and teachers and was talking to postal service bosses about increased security for their workers.

"We are not going to take any chances and we will be ensuring there is a substantial security operation," he said. "That will include very high profile operations in the vicinity of schools."

There was a heavy police presence Monday in many parts of the divided Ardoyne area of north Belfast, where more then 80 police officers were injured trying to keep Catholic and Protestant youths apart during two nights of rioting last week.

Armored police Land Rovers lined the road outside the Catholic Holy Cross Girls' Primary School - scene of a 12-week Protestant protest last fall - and security forces were in evidence at other schools in the north of the city.

Rioting erupted last week after clashes between Catholics and Protestants near Holy Cross school and there were ugly scenes at other schools in the district.

The Rev. Aidan Troy, chairman of the Roman Catholic school's board of governors, said all gates and doors are being kept locked and children are forbidden to open doors to visitors. "We are taking sensible measures but if you turn a school into a fortress you kill the prospects of education," Troy said.

"But we don't want to endanger the children. We are taking the threat seriously."

Northern Ireland's First Minister David Trimble, a Protestant political leader, and his deputy Mark Durkan, a Catholic, issued a joint statement saying the threats to attack Catholics must be withdrawn.

"Workers should be able to earn a living free from any form of attack or intimidation. he threats issued against teachers and other school staff in north Belfast are utterly outrageous, totally unacceptable and must be withdrawn immediately," they said.

"Schools serve all sections of the community, and they must remain safe havens for the education of children, they are places of sanctuary, they are sacred places."

Police were questioning two men about McColgan's slaying. Postal workers halted mail service Sunday and Monday in his honor, and union leaders called for a half-day general work stoppage Friday to protest the killing and register concern about violence.

Although most Protestant and Catholic guerrilla groups in Northern Ireland are upholding cease-fires, tension has been high in the British-ruled province for months.

Protestant guerrillas determined to preserve British rule and Catholics groups seeking union with the Irish Republic fought a bitter 30-year war in which 3,600 died. A peace accord in 1998 brought the conflict to an uneasy end.