The main gate at Dale Farm has been demolished by heavy machinery and only two protesters remain chained to barricades inside the UK’s largest illegal travellers’ site as bailiffs prepare to remove homes from the settlement.
Adorned with murals and anti-bailiff slogans, the main Dale Farm gate came to symbolise resistance to the site clearance.
Essex police confirmed 37 people have been arrested so far after violent clashes broke out between riot police and demonstrators at the entrance to the site.
Bailiffs are working to remove the final two protesters – a man and a woman – attached to a concrete-filled barrel inside the illegal Essex settlement this morning.
Speaking this morning, Basildon Council leader Tony Ball said: ‘I hope that there are no repeats of yesterday’s scenes of premeditated violence and disorder from the protesters on the site, and that we can get on with the job of upholding the law, and clearing the site in a safe, professional and dignified way.’
Travellers who were given a rude awakening early yesterday compared riot police storming their campsite to soldiers going into battle.
People were forced to hurriedly pack their possessions into vans as officers smashed their way through and told of ‘codewords’ and threats resounding across the Dale Farm campsite.
‘They came in – it was as though they thought they were coming into Afghanistan. It was violent,’ said mother-of-three Mary McCarthy, 42.
‘They were screaming codewords as they made their way on to the site. This is modern Britain – well, I want no part of this country.’
Fellow resident Margaret Gammell was among those trying to stuff her belongings into a van as police and bailiffs surrounded.
‘I have no idea where I am going to go,’ said the 56-year-old diabetic. ‘I feel terrible. I need my medication but I have no idea where I have left it.’
Protesters who had come from outside chanted: ‘F*** the police – no justice, no peace.’
Smoke filled the air in the camp as a caravan was set alight – seemingly by residents or activists themselves.
While both men and women were among the protesters arrested, many of the travellers speaking out were female – with male residents scarcely seen or cloaking their faces.
While the police and bailiffs’ operation provoked shock and outrage among travellers, people who have lived near the site and have long campaigned for its closure expressed grim satisfaction.
‘After all this time, I can hardly believe what I am seeing,’ said neighbour Len Gridley, 52.
He admitted the police appeared ‘heavy-handed’ but added: ‘I have no sympathy.
‘Those protesters deserved everything they got – Tasered or gas or whatever they had wanted to do.’
Pictures: Check out our gallery of the Dale Farm evictions
