SQUATTERS who occupied a former York music venue say they have quit after a gang smashed a window to break in to the property and threatened them.

Members of the Barbican Community Centre group claim police did little to help them during the incident at the former Fibbers building in Toft Green, in the early hours of Sunday, and they were now traumatised by their experiences.

The incident came just days before York County Court is set to decide tomorrow on the future of the squat, following an application by developers to evict those involved.

Spokesperson Patrick Thelwell said he and three others were in the building at 1am on Sunday when a group of people aged about 17 to 20 started banging on the window and trying to get in.He said they were told it was a community centre where they were living but they wouldn’t go away.

They left but then returned in a larger group, intent on causing trouble and started trying to smash a window with a traffic cone.

He said the squatters went upstairs and barricaded themselves in a room and called the police.

"The police just drove by in a van, and didn't make any inquiries, while they just made off down an alleyway," he said, adding that the gang only went away when someone from a nearby hotel went into the street and called the police loudly.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said it had been called to reports of a break-in at a derelict building in Toft Green.

He said officers had attended the address within several minutes of being called and made inquiries, adding: "No suspects were present when officers attended."

The squatters moved into the former Fibbers in July after having been evicted from land next to York Barbican in July. They insisted they had not broken in and said their intention was to create a community centre, a pay-as-you-feel cafe, a radical library and a live music, arts and poetry venue, similar to the aims of their old 'Barbican Community Centre.'

But developers North Star claimed the building was 'dangerously unsafe to be inhabited' - and said a revised vision for the site was being drawn up which included music, cultural and work space that would be 'fantastic for the city’s cultural sector.'

The squatters said in mid August that they could continue to occupy it for another three weeks after a hearing at York County Court had been adjourned following legal errors.

North Star said that the case had been relisted for September 2 'due to a technicality,'