Members of the Irish National Liberation Army took the 14-year-old and 15-year-old from their homes in Ardoyne, north Belfast, chained them at their waists and ankles, made them take off their T-shirts and poured tar, paint, oil and sawdust over them.
The younger boy chipped a bone in his ankle trying to struggle free, and the pair had to be taken to hospital where staff had considerable trouble removing the tar. Both boys were extremely shocked.
Father Aidan Troy, chairman of the board of governors of Holy Cross girls' school, which hit the headlines when it was picketed by loyalist protesters, condemned the attack.
Father Troy, who called an ambulance for the boys, said: "It is wrong for any group to unilaterally take children from their parents and punish them as they choose." He warned that the community was "spiralling down into something horrendous".
But Terry Harkin of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, which represents the INLA, said the INLA had treated these two boys "more empathetically" than any other republican organisation would.
For years, republican and loyalist terrorists have inflicted violence on young people accused of crimes, often with the acquiescence of communities which refuse to accept the police. A few months ago, loyalists in south Belfast nailed a young man to a fence.
However, there appears to be a new approach in some areas, to shame rather than physically injure, with teenagers being forced to wear placards stating their alleged crimes. But the tarring incident and the age of the boys involved has provoked outrage.
The 14-year-old's mother, who did not wish to be named, said her son was "no angel", but castigated his attackers for "treating him like an animal".
"I have no trust for the police force but he is only a child and there are other ways of solving this."