Travellers face final countdown

London: They have been desperately searching for supporters to help fight their eviction.

So within minutes of discovering that no less than the United Nations was backing their cause Saturday, residents of Europe's largest illegal traveller camp triumphantly raised the organisation's blue flag in celebration.

In an astonishing intervention, the UN condemned plans to bulldoze the Dale Farm camp and insisted that the eviction should be suspended to protect the travellers' human rights.

‘Appropriate alternative'

The demand came from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which said bailiffs should be called off until travellers are found "culturally appropriate alternative accommodation".

It comes days after the High Court ruled that the camp in Crays Hill, Essex, should be demolished.

The evictions of 80 families on 52 plots are set to begin within a fortnight. Furious homeowners living next to the camp yesterday expressed disbelief at the UN and said its move could lead to further delays in evicting the travellers.

Len Gridley, 52, whose property backs on to the site, said: "The UN should stop sticking their oar in. It has nothing to do with them. It's a planning issue, pure and simple, and if this causes another delay, which I fear it will, then they should have to pay for the costs of the eviction."

The UN has no direct power to stop the eviction. But its intervention will almost certainly inflame an already tense atmosphere on Dale Farm.