Feelings remain high a decade after 80 nomadic families were evicted from the Essex site.
Last game changer. 21 October 2021 20. 03 TSB
On the day the citizens of Dale Farm, then one of Europe’s largest sites for unauthorized travelers, were evicted a decade ago, students at the nearest number one school were given special stones that they can squeeze upon entering their morning congregation. The teachers wanted to remind everyone that the school was still a welcoming place.
But the helicopters above him and the violent scenes that took place pierced and reinforced what the local network had prepared: 80 families, adding vulnerable children, would be left homeless and did know where to go.
“Some of them [the young people] were talking about some of their belongings being burned and destroyed, and that the big cars coming in were crushing things,” said Hayley Dyer, principal of Crays Hill Elementary School. Many of the expelled youth never returned to school.
On the tenth anniversary of the eviction in Essex, citizens and activists told the Guardian that time had done little to ease the pain and trauma and, although many families have moved in after squandering their long legal war with the local council, the long-term disputes of the continuation.
Travelers who own the land are looking to sell it to genuine real estate developers, many hoping to use the cash to create a new life elsewhere. It remains to be noted that Basildon’s advice will allow progress to continue.
“It was like living in a war zone,” said Candy Sheridan, a Dale Farm activist and later vice president of the Gypsy Council. “It was a great injustice. It was shameful for this country that they went through such vulnerable people. “
“There is an opportunity, 10 years later, to end this and let those families take their lives. I don’t need to communicate it in five or ten years. I just think they deserve a lot better. “
Patrick Egan, owner of a legally located farm on Dale Farm that was set on fire a few years ago, still has nightmares about eviction. “They destroyed my life because now we have no home. “
Although Egan has the legal right to stay, he said the eviction had caused damage to his property and that land that was once complete with families and friends had become a landfill he calls toxic. “We had a very close network where everyone took care of each other, but it was like a nightmare after we left. I didn’t know where to go, what to do.
He appreciates the opportunity to sell his land to a developer and despite everything having a closing. A 50-year-old gypsy woman living near the Noak Bridge, who wanted to remain anonymous, echoed her sentiment. of Dale Farm deserve to have [been] to give them a little joy instead of being rejected and having nothing. “
She says racism has gotten worse for her network since the eviction. Pauline Anderson, an Irish traveler and president of the traveller movement, agreed. “Public opinion about the right of Roma and travellers to a nomadic life, to live in places rather than in housing, has been deteriorating since [Dale Farm],” he said. I think what happened was that the media and Dale Farm subjected the way of life of gypsies and travelers to public scrutiny. “
Fierce resistance to the eviction, scores of activists from across the country flocked to Dale Farm and helped build a barricade. Veteran activist Grattan Puxon was chief among them and estimates that some 1,000 more people arrived and left during the stalemate. “It was a normal situation, you had to take care of it. . . it was like two medieval camps side by side, in a position to go to war,” he said.
Natalia Szarek, who was 23 at the time and a media spokeswoman for Dale Farm Solidarity, said the crusade and expulsion had opened her eyes to the intensity of racism in British society. “The eviction was brutal and violent for the police component and it was heartbreaking to see those families, adding vulnerable and ill-health people, and many young people absolutely traumatized and their homes destroyed. “
But opinion is divided on whether activist movements helped the overall cause, and some Viajeros believe their tactics diverted attention from the families’ plight. eviction.
Others say that the concentration will not be only in the turbulence of the 3 days of eviction. “Dale Farm’s birthday will only be remembered for one thing, and that’s the barricades. He will not be remembered for leaving other people homeless, driving young people away from education, denying them the right to physical care,” said Joe Jones, the current president of the Gypsy Council.
He said there were still other young people from Dale Farm who roamed the country and were evicted on a daily basis. “It doesn’t matter where we go. It turns out that everyone knows where we are not, but no one knows where we are.
Even those who supported the eviction, such as Len Gridley, a resident of Dale Farm, criticize what followed: “When they carried out the eviction, it had to be turned into a green belt. Ten years later, nothing has been done. “”he said. ” They [the board] don’t need to leave the mess blank. The simplest thing is for a developer to do it.
However, it is still known if the sale will take place. Basildon’s head of board, Andrew Baggott, said: “The council has been informed of any land on the Dale Farm domain for sale at this time. plan.
As for Egan, he vowed never to return to Dale Farm. The stall has too many bad memories. ” I just need to find a suitable position for myself and my circle of relatives. And I’ll die as a satisfied guy once I know. that my circle of relatives has a space they can call home.