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BANNER DROP AT BAILIFFS OFFICE FOR DALE FARM

traveller solidarity | 28.05.2005 16:15

A group of Traveller solidarity activists dropped a banner over Constant and Co's offices at 66 Harpur st, Bedford today.

This was an action carried out in solidarity with Dale Farm. The banner read "Hands off Dale Farm, Constant: paid for ethnic cleansing". Leaflets were distributed to passers by.

The largest Traveller site in the country with over a thousand residents,
Dale Farm in Crays Hill, near Basildon and Wickford, Essex, is under
threat of eviction. Basildon council will make a decision by the 28th of
May, but have already paid bailiff company Constant and Co £20,000 to make
a plan for eviction. The whole site is not facing immediate eviction but
around 40 - 60 families are. The council is planning to spend a million
and a half of ratepayers money to make these families homeless. After Dale
Farm there really is nowhere to go.

Dale Farm has been a refuge in the last few years for families evicted
from other sites. The impossible odds of actually receiving planning
permission for Traveller sites (over 90% rate of refusal) means brutal and
violent evictions across the country. The size of Dale Farm was an attempt
to find safety in numbers, which is soon to be stripped away. The right
wing press has made headlines in the last few months claiming that the
Gypsy - Traveller community is using Human Rights law for their own
benefit. The European Convention on Human Rights does protect the rights
of communities to live in a way that is culturally significant to them,
and also stops people being moved away from vital services. Children will
lose their education through eviction, the ill will lose their medical
treatment, the elderly will lose their care.

To join the campaign to support Dale Farm come to the meeting or visit
www.travellersupport.org.uk  info@travellersupport.org.uk
SAVE DALE FARM - Public Meeting Sunday 29th May 1pm @ Ramparts, Rampart St. off Commercial road near Aldgate East.

traveller solidarity