STUDENTS at a packed meeting demanded action to prevent Rochester Library being moved into the Adult Education Centre.

One student protestor said: "Medway Council may own the building but we vote them in or out. If we've got 5,000 people coming through these doors, we can get 5,000 people out onto the streets."

More than 300 people crammed into a lecture room to voice their anger at the council's proposal.

Pam Howell, a former deputy head at the centre, and a member of the Students Association since 1984, said if the library were to be moved into the ground floor of the centre, it would mean loss of the IT rooms and relocation of the cookery and craft rooms. Office space would also be severely cut back.

She said the centre had grown into a "great big tree of knowledge", with a vast range of subjects, teacher training and social areas for people to meet.

She stressed: "The whole thing is vibrant and alive. Today we have 5,804 students and are full to capacity. People in the community choose to come here because we offer them something valuable. This move would mean chopping off our lovely tree of knowledge at the roots."

She said to maintain the same number of classes would mean moving some of them out to other centres. Between 1,100 and 1,800 students would be dispersed. Many would find it difficult to transfer elsewhere because of transport difficulties. And other centres may not comply with new regulations governing access for disabled people.

She said: "If the service is fragmented it will destroy the community feeling we have in this college. Moving the library here would affect student numbers and would disrupt the exam programme."

She told the meeting that the new library was due to be open in May this year, which gave protesters very little time.

By a unanimous show of hands, they voted to demand an open meeting to be attended by councillors. Protestors will also write to councillors, MPs and the minister for lifelong learning, Ivan Lewis.