Parents and teachers at the Catholic primary school at the centre of a bitter sectarian protest in the Ardoyne area of West Belfast two years ago have declined an invitation to view a drama before it airs next week.

The BBC and RTE co-production is about the loyalist protest outside the Holy Cross Girls Primary School. The three-month protest eventually ended in November 2001, but during the protest the parents and schoolchildren had to be escorted to the school by security forces in full riot gear.

Father Aidan Troy, the Chairman of the school's board of governors, said that the decision had been made due to the understanding that not all those involved had been invited to the screening.

However, the BBC confirmed that a private screening would be held if a "representative group" wished to see the drama production.

Residents in the area said that it was too soon to air a drama on the community stand-off.

Broadcast on newsreels around the world from September to November 2001, the controversial stand off saw naked sectarianism inflicted upon schoolchildren and was widely condemned.

The protest was eventually resolved when a package of improved social and security measures in the area was offered to loyalist residents.

(SP)