Armed loyalists attacked 17 vehicles in the car-park of a Catholic secondary school in north Belfast yesterday. The parents of pupils inside said they were terrified during the incident.
Four men, one of whom was said to have brandished a gun, used iron bars to smash the car windscreens and doors. The cars belonged to teachers at Our Lady of Mercy School on Ballysillan Road, about half a mile from Holy Cross in Ardoyne.
After the attack, parents arrived to see if their children were all right. Ms Marie Bradley said her daughter had telephoned her to say someone was breaking into the school. "She was in hysterics. I am taking her home," she said. "Is it worth a child's life bringing her to school to be educated? All you can do is hope and pray that all this will be sorted out."
A local Sinn Féin Assembly member, Mr Gerry Kelly, said: "A section of loyalists are intent on attacking Catholics. We need to calm the situation down and try to draw back from this." The attack was also condemned by the Ulster Unionist Lord Mayor of Belfast, Mr Jim Rodgers.
Protestant pupils at the Boys' and Girls' Model secondary schools in north Belfast were stranded yesterday when buses to take them home were withdrawn because of the ongoing violence.
The police decided it was unsafe for them to walk past Ardoyne shops where a large nationalist crowd had gathered.Instead, they were taken home in police Land-Rovers.
Ligoniel Primary School closed early yesterday after parents noticed nationalist youths gathering near the building.
Meanwhile, the Police Service of Northern Ireland has said that Wednesday's violence appeared to have been "sustained and heavily orchestrated". It is believed that men with walkie-talkies and mobile phones directed attacks. A police spokesman said 400 to 500 people were involved in the disturbances. A total of 48 police officers were injured during the rioting, which followed the initial incident outside Holy Cross.
Four Catholics were wounded by shotgun pellets fired by loyalists. Three people have been arrested since the disturbances began.
A Resident Magistrate warned yesterday that he would not grant bail while hooliganism continued in the north Belfast area. Mr Mark Hamill ordered Mr Stephen Smyth (27), from Ashmore Place, Belfast, to be remanded in custody on a charge of riotous behaviour at Ardoyne the previous day.