An investigation for openDemocracy has found that gypsy, Roma and traveller communities are being forced to live on contaminated land, by motorways and near sewage works or risk arrest. Two-thirds of the 60 short-term ‘transit’ sites in England – and just over half of the country’s 242 permanent sites – are within 100m of one or more such hazards. Yet the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, which came into force at the end of June, forces gypsy, Roma and traveller communities into these sites by criminalising trespass and strengthening police powers against unauthorised roadside camps. This Act directly forces traveller communities into conflict with police who can seize their homes and belongings, order their children into care, and make conviction, fines and/or imprisonment more likely. To read more, go to https://bit.ly/3oUvg5A
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