A farmer who sprayed travellers squatting on his land with foul-smelling slurry said he "simply had enough".

Pierre Richard used reeking liquid manure to cover the travellers who had parked on his family farm in northeastern France.

The 37-year-old said he decided to act after police waved away his desperate pleas for help.

Richard, who owns the farm near the village of Le Syndicat in the northeastern Vosges region of France, worked with another farmer to spray fertilizer towards the travellers, who gave chase.

The fifth-generation farmer told MailOnline: "I'd simply had enough.

"They want us to simply shut our mouths and let them squat on our land. But this year I refused.

"Every year hundreds of gypsies come into our valley and take over our land. This year I decided I had to do something."

French farmers spray manure on dozens of travellers occupying field after police fail to help

Richard said the travellers were on their way to a gypsy religious festival illegally occupied his farm and did not use an empty traveller site nearby to instead.

He continued: "They preferred to stay here on my land. It's a beautiful place, in the mountains, next to a river, and with fresh green grass.

"They arrived at about 8pm on a Sunday night. When I heard they were there I went down there, but it was too late. They had broken through the barriers and set up camp, hundreds of them.

"The following day I went to the police, but they said there was nothing they could do."

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Upon arrival, Richard claimed the travellers had destroyed part of his land and had defecated in the river.

He continued: "Not only do they ruin the grass, they ruin the land and the river. Their cars and caravans flatten the earth and make it harder for the grass to grow.

"And they go to the toilet everywhere - everywhere apart from in their caravans. It's disgusting. The river is an important fresh-water resource, but they leave it polluted with human waste.

"They open a water hydrant and leave it running day and night - using hundreds of litres of water, even if there is a drought. My family have been farming this land for five generations and we are not going to stop."

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The travellers were en route to the "Life and Light", a week-long religious gathering that attracts 30,000 Roma travellers from across France.

However, nearby neighbours have complained about issues of disruption, environmental pollution and nuisance.

Dairy farmer Dominic Frenot, 52, told MailOnline: "Everyone in this area is sick to death of the gypsies coming en masse and taking over our land. I have real admiration for [Richard] for standing up to them. He was very courageous.

'They took over one of my prairies a couple of years ago and caused a lot of damage."

Mayor of Syndicat, Pascal Claude, also shared his frustration, adding: "They had no right to set up camp there, but they forced the barrier at the entrance of the land.

"The farmers and I are totally against this. Not only did they set up camp on a protected natural land, it is also a protected water source."

The travellers, named in French local media as the Parti d'Alsace, claimed that the nearby traveller site did not have sufficient capacity for their 250-caravan convoy.

Their lawyer told the court that the group had asked the local authorities to provide a site for them this summer, but their demand had been ignored.

Maitre Laure Iognat-Prat said: "The trip was planned; they had contacted the Vosges [department authorities] at the beginning of the year to reserve a site. [But] They never received a response."