Story and photographs by Kara Fox, CNN
Niamh Burns is organizing a special 20-year reunion for her schoolmates this year. But while the accomplishments of the “Courageous Classes of 2001” are worth celebrating, the date they are commemorating is not.
Over the course of 12 weeks in 2001, Burns and the other pupils at north Belfast’s Holy Cross Girls’ primary were subjected to a barrage of abuse from a group of loyalist Protestants blocking their path to the school gate.
The unrest, reported on globally at the time, began during the last week of the summer term, before violence exploded on the children’s return to school in the fall. An angry mob threw urine-filled balloons and, eventually, a pipe bomb as children some as young as five ran the gauntlet each day to get to class.