Holy Cross Dispute - Beginnings

Beginnings

Holy Cross is a girls-only Catholic primary school in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast. Before the outbreak of The Troubles in the late 1960s, the area was "mixed", with Catholics and Protestants living alongside each-other. However, after violence broke-out between the two communities, the area became segregated. The area to the south of Alliance Avenue became wholly populated by Catholics (who were mostly Irish nationalist and republican) while the area to the north (known as Glenbryn) became wholly populated by Protestants (who were mostly unionist and loyalist). This left Holy Cross in the middle of a Protestant area and some of the schoolchildren had to walk through it to get to school. A 40-foot (12 m) high wall (known as a "peace line") was built to separate the two communities. During the 30 years of The Troubles almost 20 people were killed in the area of the peace line by loyalists, republicans and the British Army.

In the mid-1990s, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the main loyalist paramilitary groups—the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)—declared ceasefires. In 1998 the Good Friday Agreement was signed, which set-up a government in which Irish nationalists/republicans and unionists/loyalist were to share power. However, the political situation remained tense. So-called dissident republicans and dissident loyalists continued to wage small-scale violent campaigns.

The origins of the dispute are contested. In December 2000, Protestant taxi driver Trevor Kell was shot dead on the edge of the Protestant area in Ardoyne. The IRA were suspected of involvement as forensic evidence linked the bullet with an IRA shooting in 1997. The next day, loyalists retaliated by shooting dead Catholic man Gary Moore as he was renovating a house in Newtownabbey. Later, the IRA was blamed for the "punishment shooting" of two men, one of whom is believed to have been questioned over Kell's death.

Those who took part in the protest claimed that their homes were being regularly attacked by Catholics and that they were being denied access to facilities in the Catholic area, such as shops and playgrounds. Anne Bill, a community worker who was centrally involved in the protest, said "People in Glenbryn kept telling the Government about attacks on their houses and how vulnerable they felt but we weren't being listened to. That is why people protested on the Ardoyne Road, the focus wasn't so much the school itself". However, Catholics claimed that their homes were regularly being attacked also. Other protesters alleged that the Provisional IRA was using the children's journey to-and-from school to gather intelligence. Tension built and youths from both communities raised more and more flags along Ardoyne Road. One day, a fight broke-out between men putting up loyalist paramilitary flags and the occupants of a passing car. Loyalists alleged that the car, whose occupants were Catholics, rammed the ladder and knocked the two men off. However, this was disputed by a woman living in the loyalist area – she said that the car drove by and the men putting up flags threw the ladder at the car, starting a fight.

In the summer of 2001, the RUC received intelligence that UDA members were planning to "exploit community tensions" to kill nationalists, Catholics and/or police officers.