The UEA Are To Seek A High Court Order To Evict The So Called Hippy Convoy From Their Land

Scenes of the Peace Convoy at Norwich and the police response.

Scenes of the hippy Peace Convoy encampment near Norwich on land belonging to the University of East Anglia. Their vehicles include buses and a range of travelling vans parked around a site surrounded by trees. People are dismantling tents. Two police vans are parked on a side road. A police mobile incident centre is set up next to the University Porters’ Lodge. More scenes of the travellers and their tents and vehicles. A woman drives a silver camper van onto the site and a man with a camera is filming as she enters the gate. Assistant Police Constable John Hall is interviewed by Anglia TV reporter Chris Young. The initial question is not heard, but John Hall says the police would not go onto the site “to sort them out” because that would be with the aim to break a few heads, which is not what people want. He says the public do not want the police to sort people out because they don’t like them, and that would be outside the law. If there were a civil injunction that would be a different situation and the police would be required to support the High Court injunction. That would bring the police into confrontation with the travellers. More scenes of adults, children and animals around the encampment. Two people are playing guitars and the impromptu song refers to the television filming. A man wearing a Margaret Thatcher mask is interviewed and says the convoy want to claim a 28 day stop over which is the entitlement of itinerant travellers. Another man is asked about the Norwich public perception that the travellers’ vehicles are not taxed and insured and that there are drugs on site. He says yes, they smoke marijuana, and perhaps some of the vehicle owners can’t afford the taxes. The piece ends with another comment about the filming. This short video was made to be shown in a news story on Anglia Television early evening news / magazine programme About Anglia.

Keywords

Hippies; Peace Convoy; New Age Travellers; Police; Eviction

Additional Description

In 1983 the Peace Convoy moved from Glastonbury to Norwich where they expected to find a free festival as in 1982. In 1983 the road was closed and the festivalgoers were diverted to Harford waste tip. Instead, the convoy moved onto land belonging to the University of East Anglia. After eviction they travelled on to Lyng Faire. In 1985 the tension between the convoys and the police resulted in the Battle of the Beanfield near Stonehenge where New Age Travellers had gathered for another free festival. https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/Peace-Convoy-1983-eviction.html