PROTESTORS who have been camped outside Bournemouth Town Hall for 10 days face an “imminent” eviction, according to the council.

Occupy Bournemouth, which is part of a national movement highlighting the gap between rich and poor in the UK, says it has appealed against Bournemouth Borough Council’s moves to dismantle the camp – although the authority says it is not aware of the appeal.

On Friday, the council won a court order for immediate possession of the land, which Occupy Bournemouth set up on at the end of October.

The council then applied for a warrant of possession, which will allow it to carry out an eviction.

Jack, a spokesman for Occupy Bournemouth, told the Daily Echo: “They got the eviction passed but we’re appealing, which will extend the time we can stay.”

A council statement said last night: “We can confirm that the council has made a copy of the order served by the court available to the Occupy Bournemouth group at 4.15pm today.

“The bailiff is currently processing the warrant request and a date will be set shortly. We are not aware of any appeal from the Occupy Bournemouth group against the court order.

“We had hoped that the group would leave of their own accord over the weekend. As a result, we have had to process the warrant of possession with a view to setting an imminent date for eviction.

“We still hope that this course of action will not be necessary and that the group will leave peacefully.”

The protesters have said they were angry that the council had taken court action, after a “no surprises” policy was agreed in the week running up to the camp establishing itself.

Occupy Bournemouth set up camp in the wake of the similar protest outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London.