Protest section 4 Police Bill.

There is a long history of the ethnic cleansing of travellers. Because of their lifestyle they have been targetted by many governments in many countries. romaroot thank you for the wedding video-very interesting and touching. Iwill oppose the bill but sadly I think you may be fighting a losing battle.
Land is increasingly becoming just a commodity to be hoarded or traded for its financial value. Travellers present a way of life at odds with the concept of home ownership and the idea of property as wealth. Any alternative way of life undermines this.
Your best way of presenting your case would I think be an educational package which informs and educates about your culture, including appealing things like that video. which presents your lifestyle as something positive of historical interest. At the moment only the negative actions (which may be those of people who are not true travellers) are publicised. I hope you can find someone who will help you do this.

Registered sites are indeed the answer, but............planning permission is virtually impossible to get. LAs used to be obliged to provide such sites but found themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea. They would find a site and then not be able to get permission from their own planning dept.

Born-again Christianity is huge in the Traveller population - the idea of breaking the law would appal them

Luckygirl

Born-again Christianity is huge in the Traveller population - the idea of breaking the law would appal them

I'm a Christian, not born again, though.
I have never received a parking ticket, have held crb/ the other one, when work required.
I am a qualified teacher too (Post Compulsory) Not teaching now though.
I worked as a Romany entertainer before covid hit, performed in theatres, festivals, schools, libraries etc.
We'd all pull our vans over at the edge of a field for the night, would go to a local shop, cafe, pub, etc for breakfast or if remote buy stuff from farm shops and cook up some Joey gray or cooked breakfast, clean up and be on our way to the next job.
Now, covid stopped this temporarily, but there will be no chance to travel anymore.
I don't want to be a criminal it doesn't sit right with me, so will travel no more.
It's totally heart breaking.
A horse and vardo are counted as a vehicle, so our beautiful homes will be museum pieces.

It is indeed heartbreaking.

I don't post very often but do read threads and I am driven to comment that there is particular person who just seems to goad other posters and report and cause trouble constantly. What a way to be. More deserving of our pity.

surfsup

I don't post very often but do read threads and I am driven to comment that there is particular person who just seems to goad other posters and report and cause trouble constantly. What a way to be. More deserving of our pity.

surfsup if you must post disparaging things about another person on GN (which is by the way against the guidelines) you might at least have the courage to name them, But as it is you are completely wrong anyway. The poster you refer to calls out people who seem unaware of their own attitudes and bias and only reports things whiich are completely unacceptable. Try being as open and honest and a little less preachy and snide.

You are absolutely right Surfsup and it seems from your description this poster is easily identifiable. Apparently it's someone who calls out people who seem unaware of their own attitudes, in other words anyone who thinks differently to them. Pretty creepy, eh?

Theres some creepy stuff going on but we might disagree on who is doing it.

romaroot

Luckygirl

Born-again Christianity is huge in the Traveller population - the idea of breaking the law would appal them

I'm a Christian, not born again, though.
I have never received a parking ticket, have held crb/ the other one, when work required.
I am a qualified teacher too (Post Compulsory) Not teaching now though.
I worked as a Romany entertainer before covid hit, performed in theatres, festivals, schools, libraries etc.
We'd all pull our vans over at the edge of a field for the night, would go to a local shop, cafe, pub, etc for breakfast or if remote buy stuff from farm shops and cook up some Joey gray or cooked breakfast, clean up and be on our way to the next job.
Now, covid stopped this temporarily, but there will be no chance to travel anymore.
I don't want to be a criminal it doesn't sit right with me, so will travel no more.
It's totally heart breaking.
A horse and vardo are counted as a vehicle, so our beautiful homes will be museum pieces.

Romaroot

We have several horse drawn wagons with ponies like you touring the countryside in this area there is no problem, in fact there was one about half a mile away until 2 weeks ago. Parked next to a roundabout between a housing estate and supermarket, selling hand carved garden ornaments, everybody liked them, there were no issues and the site was left clean. They will be welcomed back in a month or two when the grass has regrown for the ponies

There has never been a problem with this type of Traveller and I would want them to continue their traditions. It’s the travellers that live on closed sites and use that as a cover for criminality that needs to be stopped.

I used to teach in a school on a notorious council estate. Many of the estate's residents were involved in criminal activities of one kind or another and the police knew where these people lived. Should all the people on the estate have been evicted because of the actions of those people?
We don't treat all people badly because some of them are criminals.

trisher

I used to teach in a school on a notorious council estate. Many of the estate's residents were involved in criminal activities of one kind or another and the police knew where these people lived. Should all the people on the estate have been evicted because of the actions of those people?
We don't treat all people badly because some of them are criminals.

No, the honest people on those estates should get together and stop the illegal activity.
Of course what actually happens is the law abiding residents move out if they can, only to be replaced by trouble makers from elsewhere.
And yes, the councils actually do just that which creates postcode discrimination

No, the honest people on those estates should get together and stop the illegal activity.

What, like vigilantes?

How on earth is that going to work.

Alegrias1

^No, the honest people on those estates should get together and stop the illegal activity.^

What, like vigilantes?

Is neighborhood watch vigilantes or helping the police.?.

There's a very interesting thread going on at the moment about Social Media, and there was an example given about how suspected wrongdoers pop up on Facebook and get "targeted" before the Police can get near them.

While we all have a responsibility to try to prevent wrongdoing, I'm not a fan of getting Joe Public too involved in keeping the peace.

Does neighboirhood watch stop much criminal activity, it may I am just not really aware of the evidence on that.

Social media can be used to report and stop criminal activity it only needs the will to do it. We are not likely to stop all criminality, we an reduce it.

I hate seeing that kind of thing on social media it's often accompanied by threats of violence.

I'm copying some of what's on the other thread, but I fail to see how reporting criminality on Social Media is appropriate.

If something is being reported to the Police (e.g.) via their Facebook page, if its public then anybody can see it and the vigilantes have all the info they need.

If something is put on the "local" FB page, then its just an invitation for people to take things into their own hands.

I’m with alegrias1 here, there are a number of racist posts in this thread. Many of these ‘reasonable’ statements echo so closely statements made in nazi Germany in the 1930s that it’s chilling to read them. Certainly education needs to happen, but not necessarily where people think ot should.

Romaroot I think you show great courage in standing up for your rights here, it’s dreadful to be on the receiving end of such vilification. Apart from pestering my MP and spreading the word, what could I do to help? Attending protests isn’t a possibility due to impairments.

It, not ot.

No, the honest people on those estates should get together and stop the illegal activity.
You see there's the mistaken idea that it is completely black and white when there are so many grey areas. Like the children in school wearing shop lifted clothes because they were cheap and their parents were struggling financially. Or the people from those families who were absolutely honest but suffered because their surname was known as being one of criminals.

Katie59

Social media can be used to report and stop criminal activity it only needs the will to do it. We are not likely to stop all criminality, we an reduce it.

Yes, social media can also start a frenzy of racism.
It's amazing how quickly the locals know we have arrived, it's full of nasty comments and of course encourages attacks on us.

Gove was a prime example during the pandemic.
A shielding family were told by the council where to park, not normally done, but they were to be supplied with toilets and facilities for clean water.
It was a family on grandparents, parents and children.

Before the council had time to install these Gove had whipped up such racism and told Police they were wrongdooers. Because of this they were moved, within the hour. Gove reporting thanks to the Police, for acting so quickly.
Evictions all over the place, even though they shouldn't have been happening during this time.

Galaxy

I hate seeing that kind of thing on social media it's often accompanied by threats of violence.

So we should turn a blind eye to everything we see - no wonder things have got so bad and the criminals rule the community