A group of Protestant children from the Suffolk area of west Belfast were subjected to an unprovoked attack which could have had serious consequences but for the intervention of a passing motorist, a DUP councillor said.
Ms Ruth Patterson said the children were verbally abused, taunted and then chased by a group of about 10 nationalist men as they made their way home from school on Tuesday to their homes in the Suffolk estate, near the main nationalist area of west Belfast.
She said a woman driver positioned her car between the men and the children.
"This Protestant estate, surrounded by nationalist west Belfast, is under attack weekly, sometimes daily, but because they have no voice - until now - to speak out for them, these attacks have gone by virtually unheard of," she added.