Holy Cross Catholic Primary School
The Holy Cross Catholic Primary School (Holy Cross Primary School) is a Catholic girls primary school in the north of Northern Ireland's capital Belfast . In 2001 she became known nationwide in the wake of the Northern Ireland conflict.
The conflict
The point of contention is the way to school of Catholic girls who have to walk through the Protestant district of Glenbryn on their morning way to school from the Catholic residential area of Ardoyne to the Catholic Holy Cross Primary School, which is only a few hundred meters away . Many Protestant residents see the run through their neighborhood as a provocation . They came to this point of view after repeated problems with the Orange marches in the Catholic Ardoyne and they were ultimately no longer allowed to continue their route as usual.
The shortest route for the girls to school is along Ardoyne Road. The only alternative is a detour to the back entrance of the school, which is rejected by many Catholics.
This simmering conflict peaked in July 2001, towards the end of the school year, when Protestants began blocking the street through their neighborhood. The police had to use police chains to separate Protestants and Catholics. This prevented the Catholic girls from using the street, so that the school could only be reached via a detour. During the summer vacation that followed , many hoped for relaxation, but this did not materialize due to entrenched opinions.
While Protestants continued to see the march through their neighborhood as a provocation, Catholics felt disadvantaged and inferior as their daughters were supposed to enter their school through the back entrance. But many also just wanted to get their children to school safely. At the beginning of the new school year in September 2001, the police, with the help of the army, built a corridor in which the students and their parents were supposed to go to school through the Protestant quarter. They were accompanied by savage insults and insults from Protestant residents, who were only separated from the children by police officers with protective shields. Going to school developed into a gauntlet run . Stones and balloons filled with urine were thrown at the children and their parents over and over again. The police recommended that parents take their children to school via a detour, but this did not prevent some from continuing to protest through the Protestant neighborhood.
The protests peaked when pipe bombs exploded and injured people. It was initially unclear whether the pipe bombs were thrown at the schoolgirls or the police and whether the perpetrators were locals or strangers. As a result, an existing peace line was developed that seals off the two quarters from each other. A peaceful solution is still not in sight.
The school girls are being brought to their school by bus today, as had been suggested by some of the participants before the escalation.
Movie
- The wall of anger . GB / IRL 2003, directed by Mark Brozel
literature
- Colm Heatley: Interface: Flashpoints in Northern Ireland. Lagan Books, Belfast 2004, ISBN 1-904684-10-6 ( online at CAIN - Conflict Archive on the Internet).
Web links
- Q&A: Tension in north Belfast on BBC News (English).
Coordinates: 54 ° 37 ′ 12 ″ N , 5 ° 58 ′ 8 ″ W.