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Delayed Construction on beach volleyball venue pushed back
Posted: Monday May 01, 2000 09:37 AM
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Protesters demonstrating against the building of the Olympic beach volleyball stadium said the postponement of the construction was a victory for their cause. About 150 protesters, burning posters of Olympic rings and carrying anti-stadium banners, assembled at Sydney's famous Bondi Beach early Monday to stall the start of construction of the 10,000-seat temporary stadium. But the Olympic Coordination Authority, the organization responsible for the construction and management of all Sydney 2000 Olympic venues, rescheduled the start of construction. New South Wales state police and Waverley Council, the local government authority, confirmed that work was now expected to start May 8. But members of the Bondi Olympic Watch speculated that the OCA would attempt to sneak onto the beach at night to avoid protesters and erect a fence around the site. BOW spokesman Lenny Kovner said the delays were a moral victory for campaigners, who were demonstrating against the closure of a large section of the beach, possible environmental degradation, and public safety issues. The protesters left the scene when builders failed to arrive but Kovner said the group would keep the beach under surveillance around the clock to ensure construction didn't commence. He said the group had established a telephone hot line to assist rapid mobilization of protesters if builders started work on the site before next week. "We waited until 7 a.m. but no trucks turned up and we declared a victory," he said. Kovner said the protesters aimed to keep stalling the construction project until it was too late and Games organizers were forced to shift the beach volleyball to an alternative, existing venue.
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