Dale Farm: Bailiffs prepare to clear travellers' site

Fergal Keane: "We've seen people chaining themselves to a car"

Bailiffs are making final preparations before they begin clearing the Dale Farm travellers' site in Essex.

As many as 400 people have been living on the 51 unauthorised caravan plots - but officials said 12 families had already left the site at Crays Hill.
Those remaining have built reinforcements at the six-acre site.
Police have been drafted in from several forces ready for the eviction at the UK's largest unauthorised travellers' site.
It is understood representatives of the Gypsy Council, the Irish Traveller Movement and a resident, Kathleen McCarthy, were due to meet council officials shortly after 10:00 BST.
Mary Sheridan, a representative of the residents, has applied for a personal injunction in another bid to stop the evictions and this will be heard by the Court of Appeal at 11:30 BST.
'Apprehensive situation' Basildon Council and Essex Police have called a press conference at 12:00 noon.
Fergal Keane, a BBC correspondent on the residents' side of the main entrance to Dale Farm, said some protesters had chained themselves to a car which was positioned just behind the barricaded gate.
"This is a bid to delay the evictions. They are not trying to stop them," he said.
"People know they are going to go ahead but they are trying to make it as difficult as possible.
"There has been a delay and no-one knows what is going to happen so it is a very apprehensive situation."
A last-minute meeting between residents and the council was cancelled on Sunday after representatives were apparently told by protesters they were no longer welcome.
Tony Ball, Basildon Council leader, said he was "very concerned" by reports that "so-called supporters appear to be calling the shots".

Travellers' appeal to bailiffs: "If force is used then limbs will be broken, or worse"

He said: "We wanted to do everything possible to keep residents updated about the operation and to listen to any concerns and address any final requirements.
"It would appear that we now have no line of communication to the Dale Farm residents.
"We are very concerned that tension has increased and it may now make our job of clearing the site in a safe and orderly manner even more difficult."
'Nowhere to go' Dale Farm is a former scrapyard that was bought by several traveller families who moved on to the site a decade ago.
Within a year other families had bought patches of land and moved their caravans there but it has been the council's case that this part of the site is greenbelt land.
These moves were brought to the attention of local council planners who applied for the people to be moved and this sparked a long legal battle at the same time as more travellers arrived to make their homes on the site.
Travellers upgraded their homes by replacing caravans with chalets and other semi-permanent structures.
The legal battle exhausted all avenues of appeal for the residents and Basildon Council was given authority to begin evictions earlier this year.
Resident Kathleen McCarthy, a spokesman for the community who has lived on the site for 10 years, said: "We are living on a hope that they will realise we are not animals - we are humans."
It was no longer about greenbelt land but hatred and prejudice, she said.
Ms McCarthy has insisted that the remaining adults would lock themselves to their properties for "as long as it takes".
She appealed to Prime Minister David Cameron to stop bailiffs from making them homeless.
"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," she said.
Essex Police warned residents to expect a "significant increase" in police vehicles during the eviction, which is expected to last up to six weeks.
The police have set up a temporary base at Barleylands in Billericay.