Man Dressed As Super Hero Scales Bridge
September 25, 2004
He emerged from the mist around six this morning determined to draw attention to the issue of child access. So, wearing a costume any kid would appreciate, the middle-aged man dressed as Boy Wonder Robin, as in Batman and Robin, dropped a banner and refused to budge.
The result was a backlog of traffic in both directions. Anyone wanting to take the Pattullo was out of luck.
That included cyclists who, like the media, were kept so far away from the scene, they couldn't even read the banner, and didn't know until we told them what the protest was all about.
A similar stunt was pulled at Buckingham Palace just two weeks ago when a man wearing a Batman outfit snuck past security and scaled a wall. He also belonged to Fathers For Justice, a group bent on using non-violent civil disobedience in order to make its point.
Robin, who tied up traffic, police, fire and the coast guard, couldn't be talked down. Finally, after several cigarettes and hours of conversation with a negotiator, a compromise was struck.
Police would load the media into a paddy wagon and deposit them close enough to get the pictures that would get Robin's point across. It seemed like the solution both sides had been seeking. But that lasted all of five minutes, because according to Robin, the cameras weren't close enough.
But police refused to give in to his further demands.
The media was once again corralled and taken away while police moved in on the masked man, taking him into custody.
Five hours after the road block went up, the bridge was re-opened. And with Robin under arrest, a spokesperson for Fathers For Justice was left to defend the decision to inconvenience so many people.