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CNN Live At Daybreak

Belfast School Children Scared to go to School

Aired September 05, 2001 - 08:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: While your child is getting ready for a school bus ride this morning here in the States, other youngsters are relying on an armed security escort.

For the third straight day, Catholic schoolchildren in Belfast are running the gauntlet.

CNN's Matthew Chance is in the thick of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gripping the hands of her parents, the anxious walk to a Catholic school in a Protestant area. Parents say this is their children's right.

But security forces, deployed in strength to push back angry Protestants, themselves came under attack. Rocks and then a blast bomb were thrown from the crowd.

Police say at least two of their officers were injured in the attack; the children and their parents escaped unharmed, but terrified and deeply shocked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I ran for my life, sir. I had one policeman who held onto me, and I ran for my life with my daughter. And I am just not doing it again. They can keep their own.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Parking (UNINTELLIGIBLE) just going in there and firing bombs at them (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

CHANCE: Religious and political leaders from across the communal divide have condemned the attack and the loyalist protesters who carried it out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel totally disgusted. I feel ashamed to be a loyalist. And the people who carried out this blast and were attacking the police officers this morning while these young children are coming to school are certainly not Loyalists.

CHANCE: Even before British army troops were clearing the suspected pipe bomb from outside the entrance of the school, this one destroyed in a controlled explosion. There have been renewed calls for the violence to end, but if anything the tensions here are getting worse. (on camera): So these streets around the Holy Cross Primary School have become the latest battleground in a province increasingly rife with communal tensions. One of the arguments and justifications for this kind of violence, many people here say they are sickened that children are paying the price.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Belfast.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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