LONDON ? A group of Irish Travelers facing eviction has won a last-minute injunction preventing bailiffs from removing any structures from their settlement.
The residents of the Dale Farm, east of London, are locked in a standoff with local officials in an eviction battle that has garnered worldwide attention.
The Travelers had set up barricades and some chained themselves to cars and cement-filled barrels to prevent officials from beginning the removal process.
The High Court on Monday granted an injunction preventing local authorities from clearing structures from the site before a further hearing on Friday.
Local authorities had won a decade-long legal battle to move some 86 families living in mobile homes on the site without planning permission.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
LONDON (AP) ? Bailiffs seeking to enforce an eviction order against a community of Irish Travelers briefly entered their settlement in Britain on Monday, pleading with protesters to unchain themselves from barricades set up to prevent police from moving in.
Residents at the Dale Farm settlement 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of London have built a tower of scaffolding poles and parked cars and vans at the entrance to their site. Some have chained themselves to cars and concrete-filled barrels ahead of the removal and said police will have to forcibly remove them.
Around 20 bailiffs in helmets entered the settlement to shouts and chants from protesters Monday afternoon.
One bailiff read a brief statement asking the Travelers to dismantle barricades amid fears of health and safety issues. The bailiffs then retreated.
Local council leader Tony Ball has insisted the removal operation will be carried out in a safe manner, and Essex Police have said they are on hand to keep order.
Local authorities won a decade-long legal battle to move some 86 families who lived in mobile homes on the site without proper planning permission.
Academy Award-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave has come to the community's support, and the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination urged authorities to find a peaceful solution.
The local authority says it's a simple planning issue ? the 86 families lack permission to pitch homes on the land. The Travelers ? a traditionally nomadic group similar to, but ethnically distinct from, Gypsy or Roma people ? call it ethnic cleansing.
The main barricade at the site bore paintings of children and a banner crying "Human Rights for Dale Farm."
One sign warned of drastic consequences if a gate were to be opened, reading "danger of death" for a protester who had chained herself to a barrel.
"Behind this gate a woman is attached by her neck," the sign read. "If you attempt to open this gate you will kill her."
The conflict over the settlement has raged since 2001, when Travelers bought and settled on a former scrapyard next to a legal Travelers' site. The local authority waged a long legal battle to remove them, which it finally won at Britain's High Court last month.
Ball said Basildon council had declined a request for a last-minute meeting with Travelers once it had been established that the "only purpose" was to delay a clearance operation.
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