TRAVELLERS and campaigners are planning a protest march to Dale Farm against the planned eviction of the illegal site.

The demo from Wickford train station to the site, on September 10, could be too late because Basildon Council has revealed it will evict the families any time from midnight on August 31.

According to organisers’ websites, if the eviction begins before the planned demonstration there will be an immediate call for people to rally at the site and a protest camp, called Camp Constant.

The Dale Farm Worldpress website states: “The march will then proceed to Dale Farm and Camp Constant, a base for human rights monitors and those who will engage in civil disobedience to stop the bulldozing.”

The protest is also against the Government’s proposed Localism Bill, due to come into effect this autumn, which gives councils the discretion to provide sites and tougher enforcement powers to deal with illegal sites.

Protesters are busy setting up defences in a bid to stave off the bailiffs.

The website adds: “We’ve got loads to do in terms of setting up Camp Constant. Everything from putting in the compost loos, to site defence building.”

There has been talk of hundreds of people taking part in a human shield at entrances to the site.

Tony Ball, Basildon Council leader, urged families to leave by choice before the evictions to avoid the misery and up to £18million cost it will bring.

He said the families were being ill-advised by campaigners who want them to stay and try to resist the operation.

VULNERABLE travellers could die during the eviction, a leading activist has warned.

Basildon Council’s plan to cut off electricity and water to the site during the clearance could be a death knell for those who rely on electrical medical equipment, according to Grattan Puxon of the Gypsy Council.

He spoke of one man who uses a nebuliser 24 hours a day to allow him to breathe.

“If they switch off electricity as they have stated, it will kill him.”

Mary Flynn, a traveller who refused a council offer of traditional housing, suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and has lung problems and also uses a nebuliser and inhalers, to help her breathe, which also run on electricity.

The eviction is expected to last several weeks. The Echo asked if the council planned to cut off services to the whole site throughout the operation, or just on a pitch by pitch basis as they are cleared. It refused to comment for “operational reasons”.