Dale Farm: The ugly end game

National and local politicians have failed the Traveller community at Dale Farm in finding a peaceful solution to the lack of appropriate Traveller sites in England. As a result we are now witnessing a very ugly battle between the police and the Dale Farm residents along with their supporters.

This is the end of 10 long years of legal battles to avoid eviction and find suitable sites in the region.

Bailiffs were given the go-ahead to remove the Travellers from the plot following Basildon council's victory in the High Court last week which ruled in their favour.

The so-called clearout began around 8am today, but as expected, things aren't going smoothly for the council and bailiffs as they look to get the residents of the Dale Farm site out of their homes and leaving them with no place to go.

There have been clashes between the police and residents and supporters of the Travellers, who have accused the council of committing human rights abuse. The morning began with a wall of riot police with shields drawn and diggers ready to flatten the landscape of a place which was home to around 80 families.

While some Travellers have left, there is still fierce resistance, with a fire from a burning caravan raging just past sunrise. It will be some time before the site is cleared, with protesters up on scaffolding refusing to move and the police being unable to use force or Tasers to bring them down.

Looking at many of the national newspaper websites, there seems little empathy from the British public to the plight of the Dale Farm Travellers. To a community that is too often vilified and now in desperate need it is particularly sad that such disdain continues.

We at OBV have those residents at Dale Farm in our thoughts and sincerely hope there will not be any stories of injuries or worse.