A spate of incidents involving nationalist intimidation of Protestant schoolchildren is taking place in parallel with the loyalist protests against the Catholic Holy Cross children.
The loyalist protest along the path of the Holy Cross children continued yesterday. Threats were made to some of the children's mothers.
Some of the 150 or so protesters made the shape of guns with their hands and pointed at the women as they returned from the morning school run. One protester shouted the name of one of the mothers and said "see you in the off-licence". The woman, who works in a local off-licence, was visibly distressed.
The protesters remained silent while the children were walked along Ardoyne Road to and from the school between banks of police and army vehicles. When the mothers returned, the protesters began shouting, using foghorns and blowing whistles.
Father Aidan Troy, the Passionist parish priest of Ardoyne, continued to escort the parents and was also the subject of abuse by protesters.
However, away from the news cameras, it appears that a concerted campaign of intimidation is also taking place against Protestant schoolchildren.
On Monday, according to local people, a man in his 20s from the Catholic Ardoyne area is reported to have made threats to Protestant schoolchildren travelling on the number 80 bus. According to reports, the man approached the driver and told him to take the bus by another route or "we will shoot all of you". The remark was heard by children, some parents said.
There have been repeated stone-throwing attacks at school buses taking children and teenage students to the Model Schools in north Belfast, as they pass by nationalist areas.
Across the city in the Suffolk area parents have reported that they have had to organise minibus transport for their children because of attacks as the children make their way to school. One child is reported to have been struck on the head with a rock and badly injured.
Protestant children at Springfield Road primary school have to approach their school from the back, across waste ground from the West Circular Road, because of fears of attack on the nationalist Springfield side.
Yesterday afternoon, a security alert took place inside the Protestant part of the Crumlin Road at school-leaving time. A coffee jar containing material was taped to railings at Twadell Avenue near its junction with the Crumlin Road. This has been the scene of sectarian clashes, and soldiers have taken up position at this point.