The ongoing situation in Ardoyne, where for two-days running Catholic primary school children have had to be escorted to school by police in full riot gear, has met with widespread revulsion and calls for a resolution to the community strife in the area.

Former First Minister and Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble described the situation in North Belfast as appalling and warned that there was a “serious danger” that the problem could “spread to other schools in the area”.

He said: “The scenes at Holy Cross Primary are totally unacceptable and are overshadowing the genuine concerns of Protestants living in interface areas in North Belfast. Until violence ends and dialogue begins these concerns cannot be resolved.

“North Belfast UUP Assemblyman Fred Cobain MLA has rightly made repeated calls for dialogue. But this has failed to take place because some groups will only address one issue and not others and because of the range of issues - which extend to matters of security, housing and social deprivation.

“Because these latter matters are appropriate for the Social Development of the area, we are calling on the Minister for Social Development to urgently convene a Forum in which all interested groups can meet and discuss all the issues.”

Mr Trimble added that he hoped that the situation could be brought under control and calm restored to the streets of North Belfast.

Church leaders said raw hatred was fuelling the situation and appealed for talks to be started with a view to resolve the situation.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor Dr Partick Walsh who visited the Ardoyne Road on Tuesday morning said the scenes he had witnessed were distressing. He called on the people responsible to halt the protest and asked all community leaders to speak with one voice against the situation so that those people of good will can come together to talk about their grievances.

Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Holy Cross Primary School Father Aiden Troy said though events outside the school would make it very difficult the attempt must be made to find a resolution or they faced an “absolutely grim and bleak future.”

Church of Ireland Primate Lord Eames said he had been appalled by the shocking images of Northern Ireland that had been broadcast around the world: “Throughout the troubles schools of all denominations had been havens. Children have been secure, the teaching profession right across the board has done a magnificent job throughout the height of our troubles, and now to see children of any denomination sucked in to our troubles in this way is absolutely deplorable.”

Earlier Ulster Unionist assembly member for North Belfast, Fred Cobain said the dispute could only be resolved through dialogue. He said no one wanted to see children being caught up in “territorial disputes between unionists and nationalists”.

Newly appointed Deputy Leader of the Alliance Party Eileen Bell has called for loyalist terror group the Red Hand Defenders to withdraw their threat against the parents of children at Holy Cross Primary School. She said the threat by paramilitaries represented a “new low” for Northern Ireland.

The situation at the Holy Cross primary school has resulted in a two-day security operation to ensure that the children as young as four-years-old can attend school via an entrance to the school on the Ardoyne Road adjacent to a loyalist enclave in Glenbryn. (SP)