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By Frank McNamara
THE blast bomb thrown by loyalists protesting at Holy Cross school landed among a line of police officers blocking the Glenbryn Parade.
The attack came as a group of youths in baseball hats and tracksuits fired a hail of bricks and bottles at the Catholic parents and children yesterday morning.
The loyalist protesters – fewer in numbers than on the previous two days – at first turned their backs on the police lines and there was slow hand-clapping.
But as the police baton-charged the mob the device landed in front of one officer who was knocked to the ground.
He was hit by shrapnel from the blast and was clutching his leg as colleagues gathered round him.
A few yards behind on the Ardoyne Road panic spread among the children and their parents being escorted to the Holy Cross school gates .
The RUC said later that four officers were injured. Two were treated in hospital for shrapnel injuries to the legs.
Injuries to the other two officers were not believed to be serious.
An RUC spokesman added: “It was a deliberate attempt to injure police. It was an organised attempt to throw a device at our lines.”
A police dog was also injured in the attack.
Rumours filtered back to Ardoyne residents standing on the nationalist side of the security barrier that a child had been hit.
Minutes later relieved friends and relatives heard the children were safe but some of the youngsters had tripped and fallen in their bid to escape the scene.
Later the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name for the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), said it was responsible for the blast-bomb attack.
Ardoyne residents claimed the trouble was being orchestrated by loyalists who moved into the area following the bitter feud between the UDA and the UVF.
Three men were arrested at around lunchtime yesterday in connection with the blast bomb.
The arrests came after an earlier search by police in the Glenbryn area.
Police officers found 30 petrol bombs in Hesketh Park and 30 crates of bottles and a quantity of petrol were also found in Glenbryn Drive.
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