Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:07 pm Post subject: Access for fathers
I'm not sure if anyone else was already aware before tonight's talkSPORT show that Galloway was going through a battle for fair access to his recently born son, but hearing that tonight was a bit of a surprise for sure. The whole last hour of the show was, I thought, one of the best for a long time as it's a situation for so many fathers that probably has been tarnished by the stunts pulled by Fathers4Justice, while remaining a hugely important matter.
Faceless, he mentioned it on air in Friday's show, when he said he lives apart from his son through no choice of his own - but sees/plays with his son every day.
Members of the group are also alleged to have conducted a variety of intimidating attacks in order to terrorize court staff and family lawyers. These attacks include throwing purple (the group's colour) paint on the outside of CAFCASS buildings, pushing rotten meat/fish through letterboxes, sending fake bombs, hate mail and verbal abuse. NAPO (the union for CAFCASS staff) have compiled a file of the incidents. Fathers 4 Justice have admitted to incidents involving CAFCASS property but deny involvement in the harassment of individuals. (see: fraught nature of protest, above) During protests outside CAFCASS offices individual case workers were identified by name in a similar style to animal rights protesters. One office was invaded by F4J members who tied up an employee said to suffer from a heart condition.[12]
Reminds me of the anti-war protesters picketing US bases .. though there are many allegations, some of which may have been done by individuals, rather than F4J.
Of-course, the high profile ones are where F4J advertise their law-breaking antics.
"It’s a terrifying prospect: a potential link-up between George Galloway, MP and Fathers4Justice. The campaigning group has written to the firebrand MP offering him free membership in the light of his reported access fears over his son. Matt O’Connor, founder of Fathers4Justice, said: “This could be the father of all battles, so perhaps it’s time George traded in his catsuit for a batsuit. He might have written us off as nutters, but the ‘madness is our method’ approach is nothing to the insanity he’ll discover behind the closed doors of a family justice system.”"
'I will not be moved', vows Fathers 4 Justice campaigner who is STILL on minister's roof By Daily Mail Reporter
09th June 2008
A Fathers 4 Justice protester today vowed to remain on top of Harriet Harman's roof until his fellow protester had been released by police. He also accused officers of using 'heavy-handed' tactics in trying to wrestle him down. Jolly Stanesby and fellow demonstrator Mark Harris scaled the deputy leader of the Labour Party's house yesterday morning dressed as 'Captain Conception' and 'Cash Gordon'. Mr Harris climbed down and was arrested last night but his fellow protester spent the night sleeping under a tarpaulin and insisted today he was staying put.
This morning Mr Stanesby said: 'I'm not coming down until they free my mate Mark. He is still being held.' The pair were taking part in their latest protest over the treatment of fathers in child custody battles in court and had unfurled a banner reading 'A father is for life, not just conception'.
The Minister for Women refused to meet the pair and decided to temporarily move out of her South London address six hours after they arrived. The activists demanded the MP for Camberwell and Peckham read Mr Harris's book, Family Court Hell, an account of his court battle for custody of his two daughters. Originally boasting they had enough food and water to stay aloft for a week, Mr Harris soon had to be brought down suffering from heatstroke. He was arrested and faces charges of criminal damage and causing a public nuisance. But Mr Stanesby, 37, said: 'This protest is extremely important. In the courts dads are treated like a walking wallet and with total disregard. I will take each hour as it comes.'
Miss Harman, minister for Women and Equality, and her husband, Labour Party treasurer Jack Dromey, left the home and said: 'We are going to stay somewhere else. I don't think it's fair for police resources to be tied up by this demonstration.' Fathers 4 Justice dismissed her claims that she had no record of a previous request for a meeting.
Three police cars were parked outside the house this morning and officers have already started a security review to work out how the Fathers 4 Justice campaigners were able to scale the walls of Miss Harman's home so easily. The men claimed they had simply entered through an unlocked gate and propped a ladder up against the wall of the three-storey house.
Miss Harman was targeted because, in her previous Whitehall job as Solicitor General, campaigners say she did not do enough to open up access to the family courts. It was also claimed that she had hinted at support for the aims of Fathers 4 Justice, but had done nothing.
The drama started at about 8.15am. Once the two Fathers 4 Justice protesters were on the roof they unfurled a banner reading 'A Father is for life, not just conception'. Mr Harris, speaking to the Daily Mail by mobile phone from the roof, insisted the stunt was a peaceful protest, but said it raised questions about Miss Harman's security arrangements. 'All we did was push open the gate, which wasn't even locked, put a ladder up and climbed up,' he said. 'In this time of heightened terror alerts I can't believe Harriet Harman has such lax security.'
A spokesman for the militant group - whose previous stunts including throwing flour at Tony Blair in the House of Commons and scaling Buckingham Palace - said the demonstration was intended as an 'early Father's Day strike' against the Government over fathers' access to their children.
Ms Harman, the Minister for Women and Equality, stayed inside the house for more than six hours. But with no end to the stand-off in sight, she eventually emerged from the home she shares with Jack Dromey, treasurer of the Labour Party, to condemn the protest. She said: 'We are going to move out and stay somewhere else. I don't think it's fair for police resources to be tied up outside my house by this demonstration.'
The demonstrators demanded a meeting with the Cabinet Minister during their sit-in, claiming she had refused to see them. But Ms Harman denied this and said they could have attended her regular Friday constituency surgery at Southwark Town Hall two days earlier. She said: 'They have said this is because they want a meeting but I checked with my constituency office and they haven't requested a meeting.' Fathers 4 Justice spokesman Darryl Westell challenged Miss Harman's claims. 'It's rubbish,' he said. 'She has been approached through Matt O'Connor, the founder, and Mark Oaten, the MP for Winchester. She refused.'
Last night security expert Dai Davies, a former head of the Met's Royalty Protection Squad, said: 'It is ironic that at a time when the Government is trying to extend the detention period for terrorist suspects - supposedly because 2,000 individuals are plotting against us - that security should be so lax at the home of the deputy leader of the Labour Party.'
Fathers 4 Justice was shut down in January 2006 after extremist sympathisers were accused of plotting to kidnap Mr Blair's son Leo but was relaunched four months later when campaigners invaded the live broadcast of the National Lottery draw. Mr Stanesby and another activist were fined after climbing Stonehenge dressed as cartoon caveman Fred Flintstone in February last year in protest about comments made by Tory leader David Cameron on absent fathers.
Fathers 4 Justice said it had been left with no choice but to resume its campaign of direct action and civil disruption because of the Government's "point-blank refusal" to meet its representatives.
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