The Telegraph:
Dale Farm eviction: as it happened, October 19
Coverage of the eviction of travellers from Dale Farm on October 19 when police were forced to defend their handling of the operation following a violent showdown on the Essex site.
• Bailiffs tell residents at Dale Farm: 'time for talking is over'• Seven arrests made as police accuse activists of 'violence'
• Last remaining families at Essex site man barricades
• Reports of Tasers used on protesters preventing eviction
• Stand off as protesters chain themselves to scaffolding
• Supporters applying for last-minute emergency injunction
Latest
Dale Farm eviction: live
20.00 We have had an email from Labour MEP Richard Howitt, a politician who opposes the Dale Farm evictions, claiming he was "seized" and "physically manhandled" by Basildon council to prevent him talking to the media.
He says he was "dragged away" and "forcibly ejected" as he tried to give an interview to radio station LBC.
We are unable to verify the incident but here is what he claims:
Today has been a shocking day in which serious events affecting the lives and rights of the people of Basildon have been at stake, and it is utterly reprehensible that the Council has sought to stifle free and fair debate about what's happening."I came here with a message for all to respect the law and to condemn violence against the police, so surely the Council should have wanted a responsible elected local politician to have used my influence accordingly?
"The story of Dale Farm is one of Basildon Council mismanagement, delay and wasted money, and this is a story that needs to be heard."
We have sent an email to the council for a response to the allegations and will update as soon as we receive a reply.
18.55 There were 23 arrests today at the Dale Farm travellers' site for offences including violent disorder, breach of the peace and obstruction, Essex Police have said.
18.30 The Caravan Times has been monitoring the burning caravan barricade on the Dale Farm illegal travellers' site with contempt.
A burning caravan has been used as the centrepiece of a barricade by protestors challenging the eviction of travellers from Dale Farm in Essex....[]The caravan was said to have been set ablaze in order to stall a line of riot police moving forward. One angry protestor stood in front of the burning caravan bearing a cross, and compared Dale Farm to the Gaza settlements in Israel. Speaking to broadcast media, she claimed both groups had faced "persecution and ethnic cleansing".
The caravan itself belongs to a 72 year old resident Mary Flynn, a severely ill traveller who applied for an injunction in August to stop her eviction from the site.
17.34 BBC Essex radio news editor Allie Hodgkins-Brown thinks the number of arrests may be closer to 15. So far, police have confirmed only seven.
17.13 The gantry structure has now been cleared and is being pulled down slowly.
Bailiffs have turned their attention to a van next to the gantry. Supporters are believed to have chained themselves to the underside of the vehicle.
17.06 A handful of protesters remain changed to fences around Dale Farm, as well as those locked onto the gantry scaffolding.
16.44 Bailiffs have just removed one more supporter from the structure. She screamed as she was strapped by harness to one of the men, who then abseiled down.
The bailiffs hope to get all the protesters down by nightfall.
Bailiffs work to cut a Dale Farm supporter from scaffolding.
16.33 All seven remaining supporters have now been removed from the bird's nest scaffolding tower, according to reports. Four more are still chained beneath the main platform.
16.26 Basildon Council officials have explained the £18 million figure which they have set aside to clear the site (see 14.25).
They estimate council costs could reach £8 million and police costs £10m.
"The estimated direct operational cost of £6.5 million, together with estimated post-operational costs of £1.5 million, produce a total of £8 million. However, this is considered to be a worst-case scenario."
The council has committed a further £1.2 million to Essex Police if their costs exceed £5.5 million.
15:57 Police are planning to go home between 17:00-18:00 and return tomorrow at 8:00 to resume the eviction. It is understood they will not be leaving any protesters up on the scaffolding for safety reasons.
15:41 Police officers prepare to remove more protesters from the "birds' nest":
15:40 One protester climbs up to the top of the unsafe looking structure:
15:20 The shadows of police and bailiffs loom large for traveller families across the UK, writes activist group Dale Farm Solidary, who have contributed a comment piece for the Guardian. They say forced evictions cannot be peaceful – "the violence comes from the brutal act of ripping someone from their home".
Dale Farm is the largest community of its kind, and its eviction is among the biggest in recorded history. Eighty two families are facing the fact that they have nowhere to sleep tonight. The operation to do this has cost the taxpayer at least £18m.Dale Farm's size has also awakened many in Britain to the criminalisation of Travellers. Today's operation has been harrowing for all the families and supporters involved. We have seen the police enter the site by smashing through a legal plot that was assumed to be safe by elderly residents seeking refuge. As police sledgehammered a wall on this plot, these elderly residents were seriously injured.
A Dale Farm mother is in hospital and can't move her legs after being beaten by police; tasers have been used, despite being declared inappropriate for public order situations; and seven people have been taken away in ambulances. But how did it get to this?
15:15 Young travellers look on as baliffs enter to evict residents.
15:10 David McPherson Davis from nearby Crays Hill Parish Council tells the BBC: "If you look at the past of most of these people they came from council house in Wolverhampton or go way back and they have properties in Northern Ireland. It's not true they have nowhere to go, they're just trying to get the sympathy vote. We wouldn't be faced with this problem if they had left peacefully years ago. Today is the day of reckoning I'm afraid."
15:03 One of the protesters who has just been brought down by police, Jake Fulton, says: "They're torturing people up there. We are trying to resist peacefully." Another shouted "No more racist evictions" as she was detained.
15:00 Former Respect MP, George Galloway, tweets:
@georgegalloway Dale Farm in flames of bitterness and hatred. Didn't we just know that with the Tories back, Britain would be reduced to this?14:58 The protesters are being brought down from the scaffolding two at a time by police to clear access for bailiffs so they can begin work.
14:25 It's quietened down a little at Dale Farm, so let's take a look at the job bailiffs will face.
The site comprises 51 unauthorised plots, on which caravans and some chalet-type houses are home to up to 400 people, including many families and their children. The disputed section is about seven acres, while the entire site is twice that.
Basildon Council wanted to start the eviction last month after a court victory but the travellers were able to delay the move until now using a series of legal avenues.
The local authority has set aside up to £18 million to clear the site and the council has admitted it could take weeks - from when protesters and residents leave - to clear up the site.
14:12 Police have lifted a cage up to the platform. The first protester who was chained to the scaffold was removed by three officers and taken to the ground in the cage.
14:10 Figures on arrests has now reached seven.
13:55 More on Tasers. Christian Papaleontiou, of the Home Office's policing directorate, has also said that Tasers should not be used to control crowds during protests.
Giving evidence to MPs on the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee in December last year, Mr Papaleontiou said he supported the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) guidance "which is very clear that Tasers should not be used in terms of a crowd control measure in public order scenarios".
Police use tasers as they break through a barricade.
13:54 This could end very badly. Reporter Richard Alleyne at Dale Farm says one protester has locked his neck to the scaffolding which is rocking precariously.
13:50 Legal blogger, David Allen Green, has written in the New Statesman on the controversial use of Tasers and why it's right to be critical of the police:
Our society not only tolerates the sort of people who want to wear uniforms and want to use weapons against civilians, it actually employs them to do so. And today some of these people may well be using Tasers against travellers at Dale Farm.Of course, having a professional and trained police force is better than the alternative, and in no sensible way can we be described as being in a police state. However, there will be those who read the first paragraph of this post and will be outraged at my apparent disdain. The police do a difficult job, they will say, and one should just be grateful for what they do. One should not be so dismissive, others will remark, especially if you do not know the pressures and stress that the police face routinely.
13:47 Resident Cornelius Sheridan, who is in his 50s and seriously ill, has been taken to hospital. Supporters said this was because the power supply to his defibrillator had been cut.
An ambulance service spokesman confirmed that one resident had been taken to hospital and another treated by paramedics. Four others refused treatment.
13:40 Reporter Richard Alleyne has taken this picture of a cherry picker which has been brought on to remove protesters from the scaffolding. There is now a handful of police officer up in the "bird's nest" with the activists. "How come the police are doing all the dirty work? I thought it was supposed to be the bailiffs." asked one protester.
13:10 One resident moves a figure of the Virgin Mary to safety during the eviction:
13:04 Journailst at the Independent newspaper, Richard Hall, tweets about a comment made earlier (09:00) by a resident from nearby Crays Hill:
@_RichardHall Resident who lives near #DaleFarm says if the site is not cleared, travellers would soon outnumber villagers. Sounds like racism to me.12:57 Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has told BBC2's the Daily Politics that the Dale Farm eviction is "ultimately about fairness". She said:
You can't have one law for the travelling community and one law for the settled community. We operate in a democracy where we need to abide by the law. Everybody knows you can't just occupy a piece of greenbelt land, rip off the turf and build what you want on it. You have to have planning permission.
12:52 A large cherry picker is now on the move, either in an attempt to remove protesters from the scaffolding, or perhaps just to speak to them. The eviction seems to be entering a new phase.
12:50 We asked you earlier (11:03) whether Basildon Council was right to enforce the eviction of travellers. The results of the poll show a large majority think they are right and that no one is above the law. Of the 3,524 votes, 87 per cent think it is right compared to 244 votes (6 per cent) of people who believe the community should be allowed to stay at Dale Farm.
12:44 Candy Sheridan, a spokeswoman for the residents, is arguing with bailiffs to hand over generators for travellers' medication and oxygen as all electricity to the site has now been cut. She also said protesters "should come down from the scaffolding".
12:22 Telegraph reporter Victoria Ward says no one's going to go hungry at Dale Farm. A catering van set up to feed the bailiffs and police is doing a roaring trade in bacon butties and builder' tea. They say they're expecting to be stationed on site for six weeks.
12:14 A spokesman for the ambulance service has said that six people have so far been treated at Dale Farm: three for smoke inhalation, one for minor back injuries, one for a nosebleed, and one for chest pains.
An activist is carried away by riot police.
12:03 Writing for the Telegraph, Owen Jones, author of "Chavs: Demonizsation of the Working Class", talks about the prejudice travellers face:
Along with Romani Gypsies, Irish Travellers remain an object of widespread prejudice in British society. What we're seeing take place at Dale Farm today is the culmination of years of intolerance. The last Conservative government removed the duty of councils to provide space for travellers.As a result, settlements like Dale Farm had no choice but to buy their own land and apply for planning permission; in practice, very few applications are accepted by local councils. There's a lot of talk about the travellers breaking the law - but, in reality, it's a position they've been forced into. Rather than spending millions of pounds to forcibly throw families out of their homes, we should be looking at how build a society that's far more accepting of minority groups. As things stand, riot police charging protesters has become one of the defining images of Cameron's Britain.
12:02 Reporter Richard Alleyne at Dale Farm says the police are now switching over to the bailiffs who are using bolt cutters and power tools to cut protesters free from the scaffolding.
11:58 Flames engulf a caravan as the eviction gets underway:
11:55 One protester "Ellie", who is up in the scaffolding, tells Sky News: "We aim to stay as long as we possibly can to show the law is unjust, but we realise we can't stay here forever. If the residents asked us to come down of course we would do that."
11:50 Superintendent Rowe confirms three arrests have been made so far.
11:47 Superintendent with Essex Police, Trevor Rowe, is now addressing reporters gathered: "The tactics implored this morning were used to gain control of the site quickly. We are now in control of the whole site and everything is calm. There was one isolated incident of Tasering. There will be an inquiry into the use of police force used here today."
11:43 Telegraph reporter at Dale Farm, Richard Alleyne, has taken a picture of what he can see from the police line:
11:38 Basildon and Billericay MP John Baron is now speaking: "The violence so far has come from the protesters and the police have quite rightly defended themselves against it. At the end of the day we want a peaceful site clearance, but it is made impossible by the protesters' violence."
11:33 The press conference has now begun. Tony Ball, Basildon Council Leader says: "No one takes satisfaction over what is happening today. But I'm clear that after 10 years of negotiation for a peaceful resolution we are doing the right thing. After the violence committed by protesters, it was right the police took the lead. I now ask the travellers to ask the protesters to stand down and let the bailiffs do their job. This will happen in a safe and dignified manner."
11:30 Telegraph commentator Ed West says there is an important distinction to be made between the travellers and the activists. He says "it is the 'activists', not the travellers, who are the villains":
Personally I have nothing against the travellers, and appreciate that their children suffer serious bullying at schools, and that they're widely disliked. I just don’t especially admire their way of life, which contributes to very low life expectancy and education levels. It is a lifestyle similar to that many of our great-grandparents would have grown up in, and it’s one we should put behind us.Yet because travellers have been re-classed as an ethnic group, despite being defined by lifestyle, not ancestry, this gives them legal protection (ironically, when the Irish travellers moved in, all the English travellers left, because 'they are said not to mix').
11:25 ITV reporter Damon Green has inside knowledge of riot officers' food supplies: Capri-Sun, cheese rolls, KP crisps, an apple and an orange, apparently.
11:23 A spokesman from the Dale Farm Solidarity Campaign has sent this update: "Just to confirm, Dale Farm resident in hospital with spinal injuries from police baton. In a lot of pain and can't move legs. Solicitors are seeking an emergency injunction. Climbing teams removing residents and supporters from front tower."
11:15 Dale Farm Solidarity Campaign has a press officer up in the scaffolding, or "crows' nest" as it is being called. Wonder how many journalists will climb up if there's a press conference.
11:05 Police now face the problem of protesters up on scaffolding refusing to move. Officers will have to talk them down as they are not allowed to use Tasers or forcibly remove them. It is also thought they have supplies and the weather is looking good, so they could be up there a while. Also, a former Old Vic Theatre scenery maker is said to have constructed the structure so it is thought to be able to withstand a considerable amount of weight.
11:03 Opinion on today's eviction is incredibly divided. We ask, is Basildon Council right to enforce the eviction of travellers from Dale Farm?
