A ROMAN Catholic priest has confirmed he will definitely be joining an anti-eviction protest at the Dale Farm traveller site.

Father John Glynn, of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Wickford, plans to join protesters, waving banners, proclaiming “ethnic cleansing in progress” if bailiffs go in at the Crays Hill campsite.

He spoke out after Billericay MP John Baron wrote urging him to use his influence to persuade hundreds of travellers to leave the illegal site to avoid confrontations over the eviction.

Fr Glynn has offered his church hall as a refuge for women and children from the site, while their men remain at Dale Farm to block the eviction.

He said: “All we can do is wait now. Families need to have a place where children can go when the bulldozers move in. We offered our church hall and the Church of England has also offered space.

“These people are active members of our parish. It is difficult for them to live with this threat hanging over them. They are the last indigenous people in the country.

“If there is an eviction, I will be there with a banner saying, ‘ethnic cleansing in progress’.”

Social worker Sister Catherine Riley, a regular visitor to families on the site, added: “They are very low in spirits at the moment.

“Most of the men are abroad looking for work and the women are frightened. They don’t know when the bailiffs will come to destroy their homes.”

Last month, the High Court gave Basildon Council the all-clear to start evictions and lawyers for the travellers are waiting to hear if they will get legal aid to appeal to the House of Lords.