Battle lines drawn as Dale farm travellers brace for eviction face-off

Supporters pour in as police numbers swell ahead of tomorrow’s day of reckoning, when authorities will try to evict some 50 caravans from the Basildon site Under a banner reading “no ethnic cleansing”, the entrance to the Dale Farm Travellers’ site was a hive of activity yesterday. Supporters arrived by car, bicycle and on foot, and those residents who work in other parts of the country returned to be with their families and prepare for the bailiffs tomorrow. A police presence was also building up in the area ahead of the eviction targeting some 50 caravans and small chalets at the site near Basildon, Essex. Many of the Travellers were in tears as women huddled together in caravans, anxious at the impending action by Basildon council, which comes after years of legal wrangling over the travellers’ right to stay on what has become the most disputed piece of privately owned land in Britain. Ann Livingstone, 70, from Norwich, was one of those who arrived on Saturday at what has been named “Camp Constant”, the protest camp where around 100 to 150 people have come to give their support to the gypsies. “I came to represent reasonable people who feel this country has come to such a silly point where £18m of taxpayers’ money can be spent in pushing people out of their homes on land they own. Where do they go now? On to someone else’s land?” she said. Livingstone said she intends to stay until tomorrow to show solidarity with other protesters, and is prepared to be arrested. The travellers have been giving up their beds to the supporters, who are of mixed age and background. Mamie Slattery, 57, said they appreciated the support. She was moving her valuables out of her static home into a small caravan. “I

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