The city council is taking legal action to evict Travellers from a school car park.
The group of Travellers arrived at Lochside Academy on Wednesday and set up a number of caravans on the site.
However, council lawyers are due in court today to seek a court order as they begin the eviction process.
Local residents have raised concerns about the illegal encampment turning up on the land – days before children were due back at school after their Easter break.
Sue Porter, a member of Cove and Altens Community Council, said: “I hope Aberdeen City Council are doing something about it.
“I suppose they have got to go somewhere but it is not nice when they go onto private property especially when it’s a school.
“They will be taking advantage of the school holidays.”
Pupils from the south side of the city, including Cove and Torry, attend classes at the academy on Wellington Circle in Altens.
Last night there were still three caravans in the car park.
However, Torry campaigner and resident Renee Slater said she was not concerned about Travellers moving into the area.
She said: “The Travellers need somewhere to go and as long as they keep the place clean I’ve no problem with that.”
Last year a similar incident which involved Travellers camping on a nearby youth football pitch, led to one councillor calling the present circumstances “untenable”.
Cove Youth FC, which has around 350 boys and girls between the ages of six and 18, were given the go-ahead to start training at their home ground of Aberdeen Gateway.
However, just over an hour before they were due to start, vans, caravans and cars began to move on the grass.
And there were even horses grazing on the pitch.
Cove Youth FC Vice-Chairman Mark Robb said at the time: “I drove my car down to the pitch to make sure they weren’t on it, but sure enough, they’d already unloaded their horses and their horses were on the pitch.”
Currently, there is only one official Gypsy/Traveller site in the Aberdeen area, with space for 17 permanent pitches and four short term pitches.
And the site, at Clinterty near the border with Aberdeenshire, has a waiting list.
Local Torry councillor Alan Donnelly believes swift action is paramount to ensure the Travellers are moved from the school site.
He said: “I know it’s their way of life and in their culture, but they can’t just behave in this way.
“I’ve had no incidents with Travellers in my constituency for a long time now, so this is quite a shock to me.”
He is concerned that even if the eviction order is granted, the site may not be ready for pupils returning to class on Monday.
An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “There is a court hearing on Friday to consider an eviction order.
“Providing the eviction order is granted, the encampment will be evicted on Friday.”
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