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 | | Saturday, 12 January, 2002, 17:43 GMT Dissident loyalists threaten teachers  Teachers at Catholic schools have been threatened There has been widespread condemnation of a threat made against teachers at Catholic schools in north Belfast by a dissident loyalist group. The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used in the past by loyalist paramilitary groups the Ulster Defence Association and the Loyalist Volunteer Force, said teachers and any Catholics who work in Catholic schools in the north of the city would be considered "legitimate targets". On Saturday, Catholic postal workers were told they were being considered legitimate targets following the murder of a 20-year-old Catholic postman. Daniel McColgan was shot as he went to work in a postal sorting office in the predominately loyalist Rathcoole estate.
Tom McKee of the teachers union, the NASUWT, described the threat as repugnant. "There is concern and there is fear about how the violence is escalating," he said. "No individual in any civilised society should be regarded as a legitimate target for violence. 'Unacceptable' "It is particularly repugnant when these thugs hold children and the staff in charge of them to ransom in this way." The DUP MP for the area Nigel Dodds said such attacks and threats had no support in the wider community. "This is absolutely unacceptable in society," he said. "I think the vast majority of decent people on both sides of the community abhor totally these types of threats or attacks." The threat has also been condemned by the Northern Ireland's education minister Martin McGuinness and the Irish minister for foreign affairs, Brian Cowen. | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Northern Ireland stories now:  Links to more Northern Ireland stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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