London - Irish President Mary McAleese was jeered and barracked by Protestant demonstrators during a visit to a primary school in Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

McAleese, accompanied by her husband, was subjected to sectarian abuse as she arrived at the school in Coleraine, in the far north of the British province of Northern Ireland.

Around 50 demonstrators, carrying placards and waving British flags, shouted "No surrender" and "We don't want you here," while branding the visitors as "republican scum," the British Press Association reported.

The demonstrators also referred to controversial comments made by McAleese three years ago when she compared Protestant attitudes towards Catholics during the decades of conflict in Northern Ireland to the situation in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

John Moffat, a protester and member of the local residents' association near the school, said the community was showing its distaste at the presence of the president of the Republic of Ireland. (dpa)