|
The Holy Cross dispute occurred in 2001 and 2002 in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, Northern Ireland. During the 30-year conflict known as the Troubles, Ardoyne had become segregated – Ulster Protestants lived in one area and Irish Catholics in another. This left Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls, in the middle of a Protestant area. In June 2001, Protestant loyalists began picketing the school, claiming that Catholics were regularly attacking their homes and denying them access to facilities. For weeks, hundreds of protesters tried to stop the schoolchildren and their parents from walking to school through their area. Some protesters shouted sectarian abuse and threw stones, bricks, fireworks, blast bombs and urine-filled balloons at the schoolchildren and their parents. Hundreds of riot police, backed up by British soldiers, escorted the children and their parents through the protest each day. The "scenes of frightened Catholic schoolgirls running a gauntlet of abuse from loyalist protesters as they walked to school captured world headlines".〔Heatley, Colm. (''Interface, Flashpoints in Northern Ireland''. Chapter 1: Alliance Avenue and Holy Cross Dispute ). Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN)〕 Death threats were made against the parents and school staff by the Red Hand Defenders, a loyalist paramilitary group. The protest was condemned by both Catholics and Protestants, including politicians. Some likened the protest to child abuse and compared the protesters to American white supremacists in 1950s Alabama.〔 The first picket took place in June, during the last week of school before the summer break. It resumed on 3 September, at the beginning of the new school term, and lasted until 23 November. During this time, the protest sparked fierce rioting between Catholics and Protestants in Ardoyne. The loyalists agreed to "suspend" the protest after being promised tighter security for their area. In January 2002, a scuffle between a Protestant man and a Catholic woman outside the school sparked a large-scale riot in the area. The picket was not resumed and the situation has been mostly quiet since then. The following year, the BBC aired a documentary-drama about the protests. ==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 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/loyalists 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 gun that fired 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.〔("Ardoyne stories: Behind nationalist lines" ). BBC News, 4 September 2001. Retrieved 3 September 2012.〕〔("Ardoyne Stories: Peace lines and division" ). BBC News, 3 September 2001. Retrieved 3 September 2012.〕 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.〔("Holy Cross school, Belfast: two years on" ), Beatrix Campbell, ''The Guardian'', 1 December 2003. Retrieved 4 August 2009.〕 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.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Holy Cross dispute」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|