Hundreds of riot police armed with Tasers stormed the site at dawn yesterday, swiftly gaining control despite facing a hail of bricks and being threatened with spades as two caravans were set on fire.
Sporadic resistance continued for most of the day, but by last night the Battle of Basildon was all but won after 27 arrests.
The raid to clear the site began at dawn and demonstrators quickly retaliated by throwing a hail of missiles and buckets of urine at the officials entering the area. This resulted in two people then being shot with Taser guns by police officers.
But progress in evicting the travellers was slow as police officers had to first deal with the hundreds of protesters who had descended on the site to fight the residents' cause.
Electricity was cut soon after the operation began and moments later a caravan was set alight, sending flames and thick black smoke into the air.
After a 90-minute stand-off, the police made another push into the site at 9.25am and scaled the scaffolding put up at the entrance to the camp.
Throughout the afternoon officers and bailiffs worked to remove seven protesters who had secured themselves to the scaffolding tower with ropes.
By then nearly all of the traveller families had left Dale Farm and were watching proceedings from a neighbouring legal site.
Officials used a cherry picker to get to the to top of the 40ft scaffolding and then worked their way down.
By 5pm the tower was cleared.
The tower will be guarded overnight before it is finally torn down.
There were angry confrontations with the travellers, with insults thrown at the police throughout the day.
But they continued with the eviction and strapped together the legs and arms of a man who was lying on the roof of a small building.
Wearing helmets and clutching shields, the officers turned up at the site determined to tackle the travellers who last night declared 'this time it's war - bring it on'.
The police had prepared under the cover of darkness and marched over nearby countryside to arrive at the back of the site just before 7.30am.
A warning klaxon was sounded three times to notify travellers then bulldozers were used to smash down fences.
Police hacked through shabby fences to get into the site.
At another barricade, a strong line of officers ignored a rambling traveller and pushed forward.
Anarchists were chained by their necks to ruined vehicles filled with concrete.
Just 24 hours earlier, following years of negotiations that cost the taxpayer ￡18million, the travellers lost their bid to keep the homes that had been built illegally on green belt land.
Essex Police said two protesters have been Tasered today and one person arrested.
They made a number of attempts to negotiate with demonstrators to leave the site peacefully.
The force said: 'Officers have this morning entered the Dale Farm site following intelligence which informed the commanders that anyone entering the site was likely to come up against violence and a serious breach of the peace would occur.
'Intelligence received indicated protesters had stockpiled various items with the intent of using these against bailiffs and police.
'The first officers on the site were attacked with missiles being thrown, including rocks and liquids. These officers were fully equipped to deal with this situation.'
Labour leader Ed Miliband last night appeared to sympathise with the travellers by suggesting that the tactics had been heavy-handed.
He called for ‘greater sensitivity’ to be shown by the council in the next stage of the operation.
During a question-and-answer session on Twitter, Mr Miliband said: ‘Alternative provisions should be made for travellers and far greater sensitivity shown by council in enforcement of law.’
Residents in neighbouring counties have been preparing themselves for an influx of the evicted travellers.
Park wardens have started digging trenches around open land to ensure that caravans cannot be driven onto the grass.
Supermarkets have also stepped up security to prevent the travellers from using their carparks and road junctions are being monitored.
Farmers in the area surrounding Dale Farm have placed hay bales and farming equipment at the entrances to their land to prevent residents getting in following the eviction, local residents said.
One said: 'They have begun to do this in the last couple of weeks. It looks like it is to stop evicted residents getting on to the farms.'
Tony Ball, leader of Basildon Council, said: 'We now believe that those who want to leave peacefully have already done so and those who are left have made it clear that they have no intention of co-operating with the council.
'Resistance and violence as some are now suggesting will be in nobody's interest - especially not the travellers or their families. We now must get on with the difficult job of clearing Dale Farm in as safe and dignified a manner as possible - and that is what we will now do.
Mr Ball thanked the police and congratulated them on the professional way they had carried out the operation.
He said: 'When I became a councillor, it was never in my mind and never did I want to preside over an operation where we saw riot police on the streets of Basildon.But I am absolutely clear that after 10 years of negotiation to try and find a peaceful solution to this that actually what we're doing is the right thing.
'I think we have seen from the level of violence put up by the protesters this morning that it was absolutely right that the police led the operation.'
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