The protest came after 2degrees confirmed last week it would proceed with the 12m tower in Scroggs Hill Rd. Work is due to begin within weeks. The residents who turned up to the protest yesterday afternoon came brandishing placards and banners aimed at 2degrees. Among the slogans were ''Don't buy 2degrees'', ''Bowl the pole'' and ''Take your tower and shove it''.
Brighton Residents v 2degrees spokesman Daryl Hanna said the fact so many residents turned up showed the community was not prepared give up the fight.
It would continue to fight 2degrees until it backed down and chose another site, Mr Hanna said. Saddle Hill Community Board chairman Keith McFayden, who was also at the protest, said the level of community anger at 2degrees plans was the most he had seen in three terms as a board member.
The community felt ''disempowered'' over the lack of engagement over the plans to install the tower close to their homes, he said.
The community's concerns centred on the possible health effects of having a tower so close to people's homes, pedestrian safety concerns at the corner where the tower is to be installed and its aesthetics.
A 2degrees spokeswoman said it understood there was strong ''feeling'' in the community against the tower, but other sites were not compatible with the ''design needs of our network''.
