City Hall Caravan 'Protest' Continues

There was no change today as moves to tow-away 'protest' caravans parked at the iconic Belfast City Hall ground to a halt.

Official plans to remove caravans parked in a protest over Travellers rights were called off at the last minute when the enforcement officers concerned aborted the move after some of the occupiers unexpectedly turned up.

The vans were supposed to be removed on Wednesday evening, notice having been served on the vehicles on the basis that they are being treated as abandoned.

Pollution control laws were to be the basis for the removal.

However, the Travellers plan to force the NI Housing Executive into providing a suitable site by abandoning their caravans continues as the family concerned have pledged to maintain their protest until their housing needs are met.

They made their declaration following the arrest of a man after he staged a protest climb to the top of the adjacent Big Wheel on Monday night.

Earlier this week it was suggested thta a family-of-eight are living in one two-berth caravan outside the gates of City Hall.

The family claimed to have been targeted in a number of sites, being forced to move from the Glen Road in west Belfast and the Ormeau Road in the south of the city for their own safety, and say they have had their pleas to be given land rejected.

However, a spokesman for the NI Housing Executive said the family have "turned down numerous offers of accommodation".

"The tenancy of a property was recently withdrawn from this family - unfortunately for reasons which have to remain confidential," he said, adding the organisation will continue to work with the family, and asked for their co-operation in trying to reach a resolution, said the spokesman.

The associated Big Wheel protest ended with the man remanded at Belfast Magistrates Court.

Patrick Joyce, of no fixed address, was remanded in custody charged with disorderly behaviour and unlawfully imprisoning five people trapped inside their pods while a rescue operation was launched on Monday.

See: Big Wheel Man Remanded

(BMcC/JM)