I have personal experience of 'travelers' illegally occupying land.
When I was briefly living in Shropshire during the early 80's, we had a large orchard which had a gate at the very far end, leading to a little used lane that served a tiny village.
One day, I noticed that the small field opposite the gate had been occupied by a 'traveler', with all that that entailed (rubbish, old cars, scrap metal, etc). I asked the 'huge' man if he had planning permission to install his caravan on the site, and was treated to a tirade of extremely nasty language and very serious threats. I retreated pronto!!!
That same evening in the Pub, I was told that I was lucky to have got out alive. Everyone said that I was CRAZY even talking to him.
It's a strange side of UK life that certain groups of people acting illegally are left in peace, whereas a single (non-traveler) person doing the same thing would be arrested at once. I suppose it's easier for the police to avoid the type of confrontation that I experienced back in Shropshire.
There are plenty of Council designated sites where they can stop for a while, but taking over, or buying, fields, laying down an acre of tarmac, and inviting dozens of others to live there, is not acceptable. But, this type of behaviour has become very common recently throughout England.
Very occasionally the Police will turn-up, but they (like me) will be threatened, and they soon retreat. Action is rarely taken.
I see that over Easter they've been at it again. Just when everyone's relaxing, they've Tarmacked over a few more acres in Tundridge in Kent, and in Flamstead in Herts (above), and moved in! Amazingly a few 'locals' in Kent were actually arrested for trying to block their access.
Some others have even moved onto a Green Open Space, here in Brighton.
Try parking your caravan on the seafront in Brighton, and start-up a scrap metal business, and see what happens!!! Need I tell you?
But haven't you always loved that song about gypsies?...
ReplyDelete"Then saddle for me my milk white steed
- my big horse is not speedy though
And I will ride till I seek my bride
She's away wi' the raggle taggle gypsy-o"
To see them dancing around a campfire with their golden earrings flashing and their spotted red and white bandanas as they tap their tambourines and play their concertinas. So romantic.
Yes, I do love all that, but hidden behind the caravan is a stinking pile of burning electrical wire.
DeleteYears ago the open space on the waterfront opposite used to be used by Gypsies. They went around telling fortunes and selling seasonal stuff, plastic chairs, rugs, plants, chickens, or collecting old iron. They're now moved on as soon as they arrive and are stopped from coming over to the island.
ReplyDeleteThey added a bit of colour. K loved haggling with them but a lot of people didn't trust them and there was a bit of conflict.
There are huge gypsy camps on the outside of Athens and they're known for drug selling now
Anyway,
In France the Gypsies used to come round offering to repair old wicker-seated chairs. We've had lots done by them, and they were very good. Cheap too!
DeleteIn certain parts of America this is absolutely encouraged. They harvest their illegal votes. It keeps them in office. The fraud going to and through them is in the billions and billions. (see Minneapolis and The "Learing" Center). This came to national attention through the courage of one 22 year old boy named Nick Shirley. He goes all over the world with his cell phone and shows it first hand on YouTube. It came to the attention of someone and now the governor of the Minnesota is forced out, the attorney general is indicted and JD Vance is head of a fraud squad looking into the rest of the country which is absolutely corrupted by the politicians who benefit from this. Now he's in California filming the horror in the cities there and in Texas filming the invasion of Islam. He gets death threats from the useful idiots. I pray for his safety. Sorry for the rant but when I think of all those that died for your nation and my nation I'm furious! Follow the money.
ReplyDeleteI do remember recently hearing about Mr Shirley and the Somalian fraudsters. Fraud is huge almost everywhere, and people make lots of money. It should be a priority to stamp it out!!!
DeleteKathe, Nick Shirley is certainly a brave young man, looking at some of his youtubes. He is of course part of the new trend of citizen journalist, who I'd much rather watch than the lame stream media. And quite a few of them are out in Ireland at the moment at the Irish Fuel Protests where carnage has been going on this past week. But you won't hear anything about it on the BBC, ITV or Sky News.
ReplyDeleteBut you do worry for young Nick. The Elite and the Establishment are a very powerful group of people.
And of course our current crop of Police are hesitant to move on travellers. Today's Police are nothing like Margaret Thatcher's bully tactic force of 1985 where they became very violent to hundreds of travellers at Stonehenge in 1985, marching as part of a Peace convoy. I believe they called it The Battle of Beanfield.
The Police always seem to get it wrong. They're nasty to the peaceful demonstrators, and peaceful with the nasty ones. Imagine arresting the people who were protesting about the travelers illegally occupying land; crazy!
DeleteI am unaware of Travelers in MA. Maybe they prefer warmer climates.
ReplyDeleteTrespassing on private property is taken seriously. That said, the police will speak to the individual(s) trespassing, but it is up to the property owner to take legal action as it is seen as a civil matter.
They often BUY a bit of rough land, send in the bulldozers on a quiet weekend, and instantly install a load of huge mobile homes. It can all be done in a couple of days.
Delete