CAMPAIGNERS today joined hands and chanted "Save our Barbican" as they staged a mass protest against plans to redevelop and privatise the complex.
About 70 people turned out carrying placards with slogans including "Fit Kids, Not Fat Cats", and "No To Brutal Overdevelopment".
The Save The Barbican protest group organised the demonstration, during which campaigners sought to form a human link around the centre, as the first in a series of activities aimed at publicising its campaign for a public inquiry.
Group chairman John Issit said: "We are here today to show that we are all together and we are still fighting.
"It is a signal to local government that we do not give permission for them to sell off the Barbican."
But the protesters were condemned by Coun Keith Orrell, City Of York Council's executive member for leisure and heritage. He claimed the protesters wanted to stop the sale of the Barbican site to keep it in public ownership, which would prevent the modernisation of other leisure facilities in York, at the Barbican, Yearsley and Edmund Wilson swimming pools.
Updated: 12:13 Saturday, March 13, 2004
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