BAILIFFS could move in to evict protesters from College Green any day now – but the council is urging them to leave "under their own steam".

It is understood that Bristol City Council has applied to Bristol County Court for a warrant of possession, which will have been handed to the court's bailiff manager to fix a date for the eviction.

This follows a ruling made by a judge at the court on Friday that protesters at the Occupy Bristol camp should be forcibly removed if they do not leave of their own accord.

There were chaotic scenes at the court as a small group of protesters disregarded the ruling, asked police to arrest the judge, and "occupied" the court room for five hours before leaving later that afternoon.

Once bailiffs set a date, they will inform the protest camp, but they will not be informed of the date of the actual eviction.

Council spokesman James Easey told the Evening Post: "We do not propose to give a running commentary on the legal process going forward.

"As we stressed after Friday's decision, we appeal again to those in occupation now to respect the order of the court, and leave College Green under their own steam and avoid the use of bailiffs."

But it does not look likely that the protesters will leave before the bailiffs arrive.

Although a post on their website says they plan to leave, and one of the protesters Tony Cripps has said they will leave "within two weeks", the Dean of Bristol Cathedral, the Very Rev David Hoyle, says there may be a "division" in the camp about the issue of leaving.

After conversations he has had with them, he said some people wanted to go, but others wanted to "see it through to the bitter end".

He added that the "clock was ticking" if the protesters wanted to leave of their own accord, now that bailiffs were involved.

He said it was impossible to tell exactly how much the repair of the land would cost until the tents and structures were gone.

Tony Cripps, pictured, one of the protesters, said yesterday they were moving from "phase one" where they had occupied College Green to "phase two" where they would continue to protest, "take action" against banks, and move away from their city centre camp.

He said: "We are definitely going to be gone from College Green in the next two weeks."

The protesters were trying to leave College Green without costing the taxpayer "huge amounts of money", he said.

At a council meeting today, Mr Cripps will be provided with answers to questions he has submitted for consideration by council leader Barbara Janke on ethical banking.

He says she agreed to look into Bristol City Council's banking policies, and has asked her to provide an update on which "ethical" banks the council plans to use, and by what date. He has also asked her to consider using Bristol Credit Union.