A senior RUC officer in Derry yesterday described an overnight attack on a Catholic primary school in a mainly Protestant village on the outskirts of the city as "deliberately sectarian". Staff and pupils arrived at St Columba's Primary School yesterday morning to find that all the exterior walls had been painted with sectarian slogans, including LVF, UVF and Red Hand Commando slogans.
Mr Leo Doherty, the school principal, said the attack had upset staff and pupils. "Unfortunately, we have had numerous attacks on the school in the past. Before Christmas we met with local community leaders in the village and the attacks ceased but it was just awful to see the damage caused again. The slogans were painted on all the walls, the large chimney, roofs and on the skylights. There is something quite frightening about it."