Row over loyalist graffiti and painted kerbstones outside Holy Cross school
LOYALISTS have painted the kerbstones outside Holy Cross primary school in Ardoyne red, white and blue.
Graffiti declaring it ‘LA’ — which residents believe stands for ‘Loyalist Ardoyne’ — has also appeared at the entrance to the school.
Local SDLP councillor Paul McCusker said that pupils and their parents would find the graffiti and painted kerbstones very intimidating. “This is completely unacceptable,” he said.
“Everybody knows the trauma that the school went through in the past. They don’t deserve this.”
Mr McCusker said that he had contacted the DUP to see if anything could be done and he urged that party to “show leadership”.
He also said he had spoken to Transport NI and Belfast City Council, asking them to remove the paint from the road.
However, the SDLP councillor said he was told that this couldn’t be done without consultation with the wider community.
“There has been so much good work in recent years to improve community relations and build bridges so this is a very negative development,” he said. “This matter must be resolved in a peaceful, dignified manner that doesn’t ignite tensions further.”
Residents’ group, the Greater Ardoyne Residents’ Collective (GARC), called on the council to remove the paint outside a school “that has suffered already from many years of loyalist attacks and intimidation”.
However, Dale Pankhurst, a former chairman of the DUP’s North and West Belfast youth branch, tweeted that the kerbstones were painted for years.
He accused GARC of attempting to heighten tensions “in the run-up to our community’s enjoyable celebrations”.
Mr Pankhurst added that it would be “pathetic and sad” if the council removed the paint.
During the 2001-02 Holy Cross Primary School protests, Catholic children were subjected to a daily gauntlet of abusive and often violent protest by loyalists.
They claimed nationalists had attacked their homes and that a parent of a schoolgirl had attacked a man erecting a loyalist flag opposite the building.
Riot police and Catholic clergy had to escort terrified schoolgirls and their parents through a torrent of abuse on their journey to and from school in a dispute that ran for months.
In May 2014, loyalist youths painted outside the gates of Holy Cross.
Following discussions with the PSNI, community workers attempted to persuade the youths to remove the paint from the kerbs outside the school, but to no avail.