Police in the North have released two men arrested on Saturday in connection with the murder of postman Danny McColgan. Two other men who have since been detained are still being held.
Tonight Northern Secretary Dr John Reid had talks with the Sinn Féin leader, Gerry Adams, who said that there had been a frank exchange of views. Mr Adams described the British government's handling of UDA violence as inadequate.
He said that in his view, the security agencies were prepared to tolerate it because so many people in the UDA were agents of British intelligence and military groups, including Special Branch.
The Northern Secretary said this afternoon that the recent violent events in Belfast amounted to nothing less than a war against the people of the North and on the weakest segments of society there.
Speaking at Hillsborough, Dr Reid said that no one would be allowed to drag the North back to the past. He said that the British government would provide every possible resource to protect the vulnerable.
Trade union leaders earlier called for a half-day work stoppage throughout Northern Ireland on Friday in protest at the murder of Danny McColgan and the Loyalist paramilitary threats to Catholic workers.
The call followed a meeting between the Congress of Trade Unions and the North's First Minister, David Trimble, and the Deputy First Minister, Mark Durkan.
The ICTU also called for two minutes' silence tomorrow at noon to coincide with the funeral of 20-year-old Mr McColgan, and in memory of all workers killed in sectarian violence.
ICTU deputy secretary Peter Bunting urged non-union members to join the North's 220,000 unionised workers in supporting Friday's work stoppage.
Over 1,000 pupils at a Protestant school in North Belfast were sent home this afternoon following a security alert which was later declared a hoax. The headmaster at the Boys Model School said that they had received a warning soon after midday, allegedly from the Continuity IRA.
Earlier, police in the North put special security measures in place to protect teachers at Catholic schools against Loyalist paramilitaries. Catholic postal workers have also been threatened.
According to police, fires which damaged two Catholic schools overnight in Lisburn and South Belfast were started deliberately. Fire destroyed a mobile classroom at St Patrick's High School on the Ballinderry Road outside Lisburn. In the second incident, smoke damage was caused to part of St Bride's primary school at Derryvolgie Avenue, off the Malone Road in Belfast.
Paint was also daubed on walls and on four cars parked in the vicinity. Teachers' unions and other representatives of the education sector met the North's Education Minister, Martin McGuinness, this morning, following the threats.
There was no Loyalist protest on the Ardoyne Road this morning as Catholic parents and children made their way to the Holy Cross School. The Assistant Chief Constable, Alan McQuillan, said that his officers were working closely with head teachers to ensure that parents in all parts of the community got their children to school safely.
