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Construction begins Work underway at beach volleyball venue
Posted: Monday May 08, 2000 09:00 AM
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Hopelessly outnumbered by police, the last of the hardcore Bondi Warriors were removed from the path of a bulldozer Monday, allowing construction of the 10,000-seat Olympic beach volleyball stadium to commence on Bondi Beach. After an eight-hour standoff on Sydney's world-famous beach, six protesters who had buried themselves neck-deep in sand were dragged away by uniformed police. The remaining small band of protesters against the last venue planned for the Sept. 15-Oct. 1 Olympics was overwhelmed by more than 130 police, including 10 on horseback and with reinforcements offshore in two boats. More than 20 people were removed from the beach during the afternoon amid minor scuffles with police, although no criminal charges resulted. Protesters were driven away in police vans and released in a neighboring suburb. The bulldozer, which had been moved onto the northern end of the beach before dawn, subsequently drove inside a steel fence erected around the construction site and commenced foundation works while more than 50 police stood guard. Police commander Dick Adams later commended the protesters for a predominantly peaceful demonstration. The protesters dispersed but vowed to continue their anti-stadium campaign. "We don't consider this a loss, this is a victory -- it's the first day," said Bondi Olympic Watch member Dominic Wykanak, who is an elected representative on the Waverley Council, Bondi's local government authority. Wykanak said the Olympic Coordination Authority, which is responsible for building and managing all Olympic venues, should expect to face protesters right up until the opening ceremony. "[The OCA] still has scaffolding and building materials to bring in and we'll be there to stop them every time they do," he said. "We'll be ready to remobilize at all times." Kevin St. Alder, a BOW spokesman, said the bulldozer was expected to scrape thousands of cubic meters of sand along the beach and, while it could work unimpeded inside the wire fence, its progress would be blocked if it ventured outside the compound. Despite the delays -- OCA had already rescheduled the construction starting date from May 1 -- a spokesman for the Sydney 2000 Olympics organizing committee said construction was on schedule. "In terms of what we wanted to achieve today, that's been done," he said. Earlier, the Bondi Warriors had claimed "the first battle in a long and drawn out war" following a simultaneous movements involving all parties. Just as the mounted police were moving toward the picketline, six protesters buried themselves in front of the bulldozer and about 40 construction workers walked off the sit amid workplace health and safety concerns. Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union state secretary Andrew Ferguson had said work would not resume until a safety audit had been conducted. The OCA rushed the audit rushed through ad contractors started work less than two hours later. At the peak of the protest, about 100 protesters confronted police when workers first moved onto the site about 7 a.m. local time (2100 GMT Sunday). Protesters are demonstrating against environmental degradation of the beach, lack of access to the shoreline, the promenade and a nearby heritage-listed pavilion plus public safety concerns during construction. SOCOG said initial works had already started on the beach and a 1 million Australian dollars (U.S.$596,000) refurbishment of the existing pavilion was almost complete. The temporary stadium would be built, used and dismantled within six months, SOCOG said.
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