PUPILS from two Glasgow primary schools have extended the hand of friendship to leading politicians from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

PUPILS from two Glasgow primary schools have extended the hand of friendship to leading politicians from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The youngsters from St Mirin's and Croftfoot primaries met First Minister Alex Salmond, Northern Ireland's Protestant First Minister Ian Paisley and his Catholic deputy Martin McGuinness during a visit to Edinburgh.

They presented excerpts from a drama highlighting the potentially deadly consequences of sectarianism in Glasgow and elsewhere.

And the young people handed over two chalk drawings depicting a Rangers fan and a Celtic fan shaking hands in a show of friendship.

One will hang at Holyrood and one in the Northern Ireland Parliament building in Belfast.

The pupils from the two schools first got together three years ago under the banner Sense Over Sectarianism and each year perform a play for family and friends.

Project co-ordinator Geraldine Parkinson, from St Mirin's, said the 11 and 12-year-olds met up for drama lessons for six weeks and also had six weeks of lessons on sectarianism and bigotry and the problems they breed.