When schools are a target for sectarian violence... by Michael Leathem, 15.
| These past weeks of violence have been particularly sickening because they have targeted the most vulnerable. Schools should be sanctuaries, not battlegrounds. |
Like loads of others, my school shut down for a day this week because teachers wanted to protest against recent weeks of sectarian violence and death threats made to Catholic teachers. I attended the peace rally in Belfast city centre along with thousands of others who are sick and tired of paramilitary violence.
I have been a pupil at Belfast Boys Model School, a large Protestant secondary school in the north of the city, for three years and never before has all the trouble been so close at hand. From one of the tallest school buildings you get a really good view of Belfast. It looks like any other industrial city. The hatred is barely visible.
To get to school we have to go through different Catholic areas. Normally things are OK but you are always aware that trouble could flare up because of political tensions. Before the past fortnight's intense sectarian violence, I'd only ever experienced buses being stoned and insults being exchanged, usually in the form of two fingers.
When it got too hectic, the bus company stopped transport from school and pupils had to walk home. Sometimes boys would get hassled as they walked through Catholic neighbourhoods.
Adults have different versions of why the violence has flared up again, but it has been brewing since some Protestants resumed their dispute at Holy Cross Primary School. Neither side is willing to give way and so the fight goes on.
Last week, some friends came under attack when their bus passed through nationalist Ardoyne.
A 13-year-old boy from my school ended up in hospital after Catholics slammed a brick into the bus window next to where he was sitting. He now has five staples in his head.
Students really began to feel unsafe and started to walk home. Although the police said they could not guarantee our safety because of rioting, they gave some pupils lifts home in armoured Land Rovers. Pupils at the Holy Cross were never given rides home but police did line the street so as they could get to school.
That day my mum collected me from school. As we were driving home, I could see a mob of about 300 Catholics. There were some schoolchildren among them but it was mainly adults. The traffic was going slowly because some of the mob kept going out into the middle of the road.
It looked as if they were waiting for something to happen. I felt really intimidated. I gave my mum instructions on short cuts that would get us out of the area and avoid the crowd, but at that moment the traffic picked up and we just flew past.
On the Protestant side I joined a group of parents waiting for my classmates who had walked through the Catholic neighbourhood. It was horrific. The Catholics threw bottles and bricks at them. The boys panicked and so did their parents as police tried to hold them back. Eventually the boys were bundled into Land Rovers and taken home.
The next morning in assembly the head-master announced that buses would now have a police escort. Pupils were nervous but a bit excited at the thought of police escorting their bus. I got a lift home again and made sure that my uniform was covered, especially the school emblem of the Red Hand on my blazer pocket.
On Saturday came the news that 20-year-old Catholic postman Daniel McColgan had been shot dead by a Protestant paramilitary organisation. They also threatened to kill Catholic teachers and postal workers. Police immediately offered protection for Catholic schools in North Belfast but they didn't appear outside my school.
Exams were starting. Some pupils were actually sitting their A levels. Events outside school were on my mind but I tried to focus on study. That did not last long because just before lunch the fire alarm sounded. I thought it was another test but the siren went on and on. A teacher told us to get out of school. He did not say why.
Once I was in the playground I realised the school had been evacuated because of a bomb threat - the police and sniffer dogs gave it away and the helicopter hovering overhead confirmed it. Deep down I was scared because if it had exploded, that could have been the end. Paramilitary presence is a way of life in Northern Ireland; there are always knee-cappings, death threats, gang wars, something to fight about. But these past weeks of violence have been particularly sickening because they have targeted the most vulnerable. I believe all children have the right to education. Schools should be sanctuaries, not battlegrounds.
I'm a bit angry at the media. Until now the problems my school has faced have largely gone unreported, whereas coverage of the Holy Cross has not been out of the papers. There are victims on both sides. It is a little ironic that schools have been targeted, because education is one of the few ways people could escape the sectarian hate-cycle. Young people need education, not only to give them a head start in life but also to help them learn that being different is OK. Education is the building block of the future, not the bricks, bottles, abuse and violence of the past.
Is it too much to ask for everyone to stop and think about their actions and just get on with their lives in peace?
About the team
This story was written by Michael Leatham, and was published in the Sunday Express.
