Tory Party candidates claim travellers hurled rocks at them as they tried to take pictures of the site where they have set up home.

Rahoul Bhansali, the Conservative candidate for Streatham in the 2010 general election, and Nicholas Grierson, a Tory contender in the 2014 local elections, were said to have been attacked on Saturday.

Both men live in West Hampstead and went to investigate the site after several van loads of travellers, including children, began arriving there last Thursday.

Oliver Cooper, Tory councillor for Hampstead Town, tweeted earlier today: “Appalled that travellers squatting in West Hampstead’s Liddell Road industrial site have thrown rocks at @RahoulBhansali & @NickGriersonWH”.

The site is home to a controversial housing development, approved earlier this year, which will see an 11 storey tower erected, with none of the 102 units classed as “affordable”.

The money raised from this scheme will be used to create a new building for Kingsgate Primary School, and to fund other school projects in Camden.

The Ham&High took photos of the site and spoke to two travellers without encountering any aggression on Friday.

The travellers said they had moved into the site because they, “fancied a change of scene” after staying in Brighton.

Camden Council’s legal team have now posted a notice of eviction on the gate of the site.

The notice states that the occupiers will be liable for any court costs if they fail to vacate the land, but the travellers claim that the site is not “residential”, and therefore they have every right to stay.

Police are said to be maintaining a presence in the area following unconfirmed reports of travellers pushing someone, cutting down a tree and stripping industrial materials from the building site.