On Monday the 12th of January a Traveller camp in Bulkington, near Coventry was set to be evicted from land that was theirs by purchase and right. Nuneaton Council wanted the Travellers out, allegedly because their caravan site was on green belt land. However the field was still to all intents and purposes green, although the Travellers had spent thousands of pounds on water supply, a road and plots for different families. The Travellers said they believed the process of asking permission to live on their own land was doomed because of the council’s racism; indeed over 90% of all requests by Travellers to live on purchased land are turned down.

The night before the eviction ditches were dug around the site and barricades piled by the main gate. A truck was overturned across the entrance to the camp and tyres were ready to burn. When a dozen or so bailiffs turned up around sixty Travellers and a handful of supporters filled the road in front of the flaming barricades, forming a human barrier. The clearly outnumbered bailiffs called in the police for back up. With a banner that read “stop ethnic cleansing” the Travellers marched to the line of police shouting “prison first” and “we’ll fight for our land”. After the police decided that they were not willing to risk going into the camp in support of the bailiffs a spokeswoman from the council came and promised the council would reconsider the fact that they were making 150 people including 50 children homeless, without providing them any where to go.

The Bulkington caravan park is now safe from eviction until the conclusion of a judicial review bought by the Travellers to try to force the council to provide an alternative site if they insist on turning them off their own land. The Travellers argue that since their children have been attending school in the county for three years, they should be allowed to stay in the area and are willing to buy another piece of land if the council promises to allow them to live on it.

Racism in the Bulkington village towards the Travellers is common, with several local residents admitting to us that they wanted the “Gypoes” out of their area, “so they can go over the county border and be someone else’s problem” and apparently some of the Traveller children pretend not to be from the site at their local school in order to avoid attacks from other kids. This prejudice is intentionally stirred up by the council and the police. After the failed attempt to evict the Traveller community the police told all local businesses to close early as the Travellers would try to smash up their shops. The local residents that most easily saw through this falsehood were the farmers living next to the site that came out in support of the Travellers in the press as they had had enough contact to know what they were really like.

The “Battle of Bulkington” was the first success for the Traveller community in England in a long time. The government resented the media attention the Traveller community won so much that the next community to be evicted, Meadowlands in Chelmsford was raided by 70 riot police and 70 bailiffs on Monday the 26th of January. The Travellers tried to defend their home with barricades and non violent tactics, but the police and bailiffs stormed their land with a bulldozer and started to beat people and set alight to parts of the site. A small boy’s leg was badly hurt, as were a few of the activists trying to prevent the eviction.

It is typical of the state of the country we live in that legislation supposedly meant to protect our environment is being used against one of the most abused parts of our society. “Local residents”, living in brick and mortar, a far more permanent damage to our environment are supposed to be protected when the Travellers are booted out of their homes and their caravans put on the street with nowhere for them to go. Why is it that in Britain whether or not you have a right to a home depends on who you are and your right to live as you choose depends on what you choose? This is ethnic cleansing pure and simple. The problem for the government is not that the Travellers are living on land they are “preserving”, but that they are living within their own community outside the confines of state control. The government will not be happy until all Traveller communities are split up, housed in bricks and mortar and their way of life, social ties and community economy is completely destroyed. Don’t stand by while the government persecutes Travellers and whips up racist support, take action to show your support for the travelling community, come to their evictions, let the councils and bailiff firms know what you think.
Contact-  nooneisillegal2003@yahoo.co.uk