FACTBOX-Divorced fathers fight for more rights
Tue 14 September, 2004 11:58
LONDON (Reuters) - Fathers 4 Justice, the campaign group at the centre of the latest royal security scare, has fast grown into militant force in the two years since it was founded.
The group is fighting for a change in the law to include a presumption of equality between divorcing parents.
It says the role of the father in children's lives must be recognised and valued, and that family courts must penalise parents who flout court orders allowing visiting rights.
It has at least 10,000 members in the UK who feel they have insufficient access to their children and says that number is rising every day. It has affiliated groups in the Netherlands, Australia and Canada and plans to start up in the United States in October.
Following are some of the most high-profile protests the group has staged:
Dec 2002 - Dozens of protesters dressed as Santa Claus occupy the department of the Lord Chancellor, the head of the judiciary, for 45 minutes.
Feb 2003 - Campaigners dressed as Elvis Presley present an inflatable heart to the head of the family courts division.
Oct 2004 - Campaigner dressed as Spiderman barricades himself into a crane over Tower Bridge. His protest gridlocked traffic for miles around.
May 2004 - Protesters who had gained access to parliament's public gallery hurl condoms filled with purple flour at Prime Minister Tony Blair while he is speaking.
July 2004 - Twelve protesters dressed as vicars and nuns storm a service in York Minster.
Sept 2004 - Campaigner dressed as Batman scales a wall at Buckingham Palace and stages a five-hour balcony protest.