Police eviction of UK travellers erupts into violent confrontation

A violent confrontation erupted early Wednesday as police moved in to prepare for the eviction of hundreds of travellers from their mobile homes at an illegal site in southeast England. Police dressed in riot gear reportedly wielded batons and used controversial Taser guns against the protesting travellers throwing bricks and debris, while a caravan was set on fire at Dale Farm in Essex. Several masked protesters were taken away in handcuffs from a scaffolding more than 10 metres high erected at the main gate, with about 25 protesters remaining on the rampart, initial reports said. Confrontation has been looming for the past month since Basildon Council insisted bailiffs would be sent in with police protection to remove up to 400 travellers, who in turn barricaded themselves behind walls and chained themselves to fences in what effectively has been a 10-year dispute. The site, adjacent to a legal site, is the largest established by Irish travellers in the UK and the eviction is seen as a symbolic threat to the way of life of some 300,000 travellers living in the UK. It has been estimated that it could take up to six weeks to clear the 51 unauthorised caravan plots covering the six-acre area at a time when the travellers awaiting planning permission for pitches on land nearby.