Do I have evidence of the traveller boy incident - only the fact that we were regular visitors to the family at the time and, as I said, they were close friends.
The taking into custody and then releasing of Travellers some distance from their stopping place was also a regular occurence, though this was the only incident I am aware of concerning a child.
The police demanding bribes from Travellers in order to leave them in peace was common practice throughout the time we worked with them in London. Harassment of Travellers, especially dawn raids on sites, even official ones, were also known facts.
The East London Travellers formed their own organisation, The London Roadside Traveller Group, and met regularly in a pub room in Club Row. Several solicitors (Norman Bell is the only name I remember), gave their services gratis, and Ken Livingstone and the then GLC held regular meetings with Traveller representitives.
The harassment of different and unconnected groups of Travellers was something we were told of regularly and there are a number of descriptions in interviews we recorded as part of our collecting work.
Of course, nothing quite goes so far as Birmingham Councillor Harry Watton's statement to Charles Parker during the making of 'the Radio Ballad, 'The Travelling People' when he suggested helping those who would be helped and "exterminating the impossibles", but it is pretty common here in Ireland at the present time to hear what is happening to Travellers being described as 'ethnic cleansing'.
Don't take my word for all this - there are plenty of people around who have worked with Travellers and are as aware as we are of what goes on.
Ask Sheila Stewart about it soemtime.
I really am not surprised that Teribus deoesn't wish to believe that such things go on - it would prick the lilac- cloured bubble he seems to be living in - but the rest of you..... come onnnnn; were none of you ever on an anti-nuclear, or a miners demonstration and witnessed how the police behave at such gatherings - or even the Notting Hill Carnival for that matter?
Jim Carroll
Jim Carroll