NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      BELFAST (CWNews.com) - Two Protestant churches and a Catholic school were firebombed in Northern Ireland Thursday night in an apparent escalation of violence preceding a controversial parade by Pro-British Protestant loyalists.

      The Orange Order's annual parade was banned from marching along its traditional route through a Catholic neighborhood in Portadown Sunday by the government Parades Commission last week. Similar bans in 1997 and 1996 resulted in numerous riots and acts of violence. Arsonists attacked 10 Catholic churches on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning in apparent protest of the ban, and the latest arsons were more of the tit-for-tat gestures.

      Police made no arrests in the Catholic church bombings but blamed a Portadown-based paramilitary group, the outlawed Loyalist Volunteer Force. In retaliation, arsonists attacked Altnaveigh Orange Hall late Thursday outside the predominantly Catholic town of Newry, then bombed two Protestant church buildings in Londonderry: St. Peter's Anglican Church and a children's playground beside the Ballyarnet Presbyterian Church. Police arrested one Catholic youth. Damage was reported as light.