Countdown to D-Day: Travellers barricade themselves into Dale Farm ahead of tomorrow's eviction
Last updated at 5:04 PM on 18th September 2011
Travellers facing eviction from the UK’s largest illegal site have started building a brick wall and barbed-wire barricades in an effort to keep the bailiffs at bay.
With less than 24 hours before bailiffs are due to begin the eviction of about 80 families living on Dale Farm, Essex, residents voiced a final plea for an alternative site as they endure a last-minute struggle to find somewhere to go.
The eviction follows a decade-long row over 51 unauthorised plots. Half of the site, which has planning consent, will remain.
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Supporters opposed to the eviction of travellers from Dale Farm in Essex have started building a wall in front of an entrance hours before bailiffs are due to clear the illegal site
As a wall goes up at Dale Farm, some residents, who say they have nowhere to go if they are evicted, fear their homes will be destroyed
Basildon Council leader Tony Ball has insisted the majority of the public support the operation.
He said: 'I have received thousands of emails and letters and the vast majority say we are doing the right thing in enforcing the law.
'We will continue to work with the Dale Farm residents to find them suitable accommodation but we have been left with no option but to go ahead.”
Many residents have temporarily moved caravans on to the neighbouring legal site. Kathryn Flynn, a mother of three and a resident at Dale Farm for 10 years, said: 'I’m moving on to my uncle’s yard on the other side for tonight because I don’t want my children to go through this.
'I’m scared of what the bailiffs will do. They smash up our trailers - our homes. I don’t want my children to be in danger, so we’re moving them.
'But we’ve got nowhere to go after Monday. We don’t know what’s going to happen to us.
'Our children went to school for the last day on Friday. I don’t know what to tell them about tomorrow.'
A caravan leaves Dale Farm today, ahead of the expected arrival of bailiffs acting on behalf of Basildon Council, and right, A young girl gestures as emotions run high
An elevated view shows how the caravans have positioned themselves illegally on the land at Dale Farm
Supporters have gathered on the site and promise peaceful resistance. One, who gave her name as Marina, said there had been an influx in recent days.
She added: 'We are spending the day making sure everyone is organised and knows their role and that everybody knows their legal rights.'
John McCarthy, who has also lived on the site for 10 years, said: 'We’re treated worse than any other community. They think it’s OK to break up a whole community and to throw us all on the roadside.'
There was a low-profile police presence outside the site today as bailiffs continued preparations on a field next door.
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Sunday 18 September 2011
Dale Farm travellers barricade themselves in ahead of tomorrow's eviction | Mail Online
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