Holy Cross school dispute was 'hatred at its worst'

The priest who helped shield schoolgirls during the 2001 Holy Cross dispute has said the "hurt" of that ordeal could happen again.

Speaking on the 25th anniversary of Holy Cross, Fr Aidan Troy said that possibility is what keeps him "devoted to dialogue, to conversation, to searching for justice and to caring about people".

Fr Aidan said the sectarian dispute was "hatred at its worst".

It happened in north Belfast when loyalist protesters tried to block the route taken by Holy Cross school pupils and their parents, who were from a Catholic background, on their walk to class.

Following the initial violence, the police and Army put up crash barriers to keep a corridor route open for the Holy Cross pupils.

The images of terrified schoolgirls having to run the gauntlet between lines of armoured police officers in order to get to their primary school were beamed around the world.

Protestants claimed that Catholics were attacking their homes and said the school protest was their way of highlighting their concerns.

Stones, bottles, fireworks and even a blast bomb were thrown during weeks of unrest.

Fr Aidan, who was parish priest in Ardoyne at the time, told BBC News NI that "none of us want to see hatred".

"Hatred is the rawest, smelliest, most awful thing that anyone stood in the middle of," he said.

"We tell this story, not to blame, but to say we are capable of doing this to each other but let's make a commitment that we never will and we'll not do anything that would ever demean the way those children were demeaned."

He said people come up to him and thank him for what he did.

"I am embarrassed because I didn't do anything really worthwhile," he said.

"People say their children were given dignity. They were worth going in the front door and they were worth fighting for, and you stood in the middle of the road and said so."

He added that "it could happen again".

"The shock of Holy Cross, even 25 years later, probably means that it probably would not happen [again] in the exact same form, but the hurt is always possible," he said.

About 100 pupils needed counselling due to their daily ordeal, according to principal at the time, Anne Tanney.

Speaking to the BBC in 2004, she said that even as an adult, she was traumatised by the protests .

"There were times when I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep," she said. "I used to bite my lip, trying not to cry in front of the children."