Protestant residents were tonight threatened with legal action to try and end their protests at the disputed school-walk by Catholic children and parents from the Holy Cross Primary in north Belfast.
With the head of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Mr Bryce Dickson due to accompany the pupils tomorrow, school governors warned they may go to the High Court.
The protests by residents in the city's Glenbryn area are now into their sixth week after failed attempts to get them and parents from the neighbouring Ardoyne area to negotiate some sort of settlement.
Father Aidan Troy, the board chairman, confirmed the school governors were considering legal action and that lawyers had been consulted.
"We are seeing 220 children being physically, emotionally, and spiritually abused. That is not good enough. I am watching them deteriorating before by eyes."
Father Troy added: "We have tried dialogue and mediation and nothing seems to be working. I am now wondering if there is a procedure in law to find some way in which we can create a breathing space in order to get the children through without further abuse."
A spokeswoman for the Human Rights Commission said the protests had been discussed, and that Mr Dickson would be visiting the area.
She said: "He wants to look at the situation for himself."
PA