Environmentalists claim a petition against a beach bar at Warwick Long Bay has attracted more than 1,000 signatures in less than two days.

Protesters officially launched their petition against the 'Sandbar' yesterday, turning out in force at the site of the proposed bar on the South Shore.

Bearing placards which read: 'Listen to the people', 'Don't Exploit Park Land', 'Keep Our Beach tranquil, quiet pristine', 'Bermuda is about natural beauty' and 'Yes to beach, no to booze', they said they said they were prepared for "the long fight".

Stuart Hayward, chairman of the Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST), which has organised the petition to Premier and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown, said since Wednesday more than 1,000 people have signed up.

"We announced it (Wednesday) and within hours we had over 1,000 signatures on the online petition plus several hundred on the paper petition," he said. Mr. Hayward described Glenn Blakeney, who took over as Environment Minister in November and then upheld the beach bar appeal a month later, as "inexperienced".

Mr. Blakeney has said he approved applicant Belcario Thomas' appeal in the spirit of sustainable development, in terms of balancing tourism, the environment and the economy. However, Mr. Hayward said yesterday: "Let's talk about real sustainability. We sustain Bermuda's tourism potential when we preserve some areas in their pristine state.

"We sustain Bermuda's integrity when we save our policymakers from doing something we'd all regret. We sustain orderliness in society when we push for law-abiding practices from our citizens and leaders alike.

"We sustain a healthy social fabric in our community when we reduce, not increase, the availability of and access to Bermuda's number one drug problem, alcohol. We sustain an environmental consciousness when we highlight the value of natural beauty over artificial structure. We sustain Bermuda's economic potential when we prevent our leaders from killing the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs."

The petition states: "We the undersigned are opposed to any commerce-related construction, temporary or otherwise, on Warwick Long Bay parklands."

It expresses concern "that this construction will set a precedent for similar 'development' in any or all of our National Parks".

Area resident Toni Daniels said: "We hope this is just the beginning of this particular fight. "We're going to be working on going against the liquor licence application and we've got to do everything possible to save what is surely one of the most pristine beaches in Bermuda."

She urged the public to write to their MP and submit letters to the media. Mr. Thomas declined to comment yesterday. He has said he wants to create an "ambient, Ibiza-type bar" and will follow Government conservation and environmental advice to make it "as environmentally-friendly as possible".

Mr. Thomas says the 2, 500 sq ft development will be operational between May and November. The 60-seat restaurant and cocktail bar will have panels anchored into the sand to enable their removal in a hurricane or at the end of the summer season.

The BEST petition can be found at: www.best.org.bm.