Sunday, September 11, 2011

DALE FARM

DALE FARM SUPPORTERS MARCH IN PROTEST
 
FROM PRESS TV
 
Hundreds of Dale Farm residents, supporters, and human rights activists have taken part in a demonstration protesting against government clearing Dale Farm.


The British government has planned to evict around 400 people from the country's biggest gypsy camp as Basildon Council officials have issued eviction notices to almost 100 families on 52 pitches.

The government has decided to incur £18 million, more than one third of Balison Council's annual budget, in a bid to clear the Dale Farm camp site. Many campaigners and human rights activists have asserted that the decision is charged with class and racial bias.

Earlier, Amnesty International alongside with the UN's special rapporteur on housing Raquel Rolnik and a UN independent expert on minority issues Rita Izak, criticised the council's decision, saying the eviction process would leave up to 400 people homeless.

Moreover, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed its “deep regret” over the British government's “insistence” that Gypsy and Irish traveler families in the county of Essex should be evicted with no culturally appropriate alternative accommodation provided to them.

As the British government remains steadfast in its decision despite calls from international human rights bodies, hundreds of protesters decided to took to the streets in what was a noisy but peaceful demonstration from Wickford railway to the camp site.

The demonstrators carried a banner which read “No Ethnic Cleansing At Dale Farm.” Furthermore, placards and flags reading “Don't Make Us Part Of The Housing Problem” and “Basildon Council Shame On You” could be seen as the protesters voiced their anger at the council's decision which is to take effect on September 19.

No comments: