Father's rights group scale Abbey
1:09pm Thursday 13th April 2006 in Latest News By Martina Smit
Two fathers' rights protestors have tied a dummy of the crucified Jesus Christ to the front of Westminster Abbey.
The campaigners, of Real Fathers for Justice (RF4J), climbed about 60ft up the wall with the dummy dressed in a T-shirt reading: "Our Father Who Art in Hell".
RF4J claimed the state "crucified" fathers by denying them equal access to their children.
Both men are divorced fathers who have not seen their children in four and five years respectively, said the group's spokesman Mike Kelly.
They scaled the West Tower of the church at round 7am today and planned to stay there until Easter Monday.
"They were meant to be dressed as Roman Soldiers, but police got onto the roof and snatched the costumes," Mr Kelly said. Their food was also taken.
Over Christmas the same pair staged a nine-day protest in minus temperatures on the roof of a radio station in Newcastle upon Tyne.
In a statement, RF4J called upon the church to "no longer turn a blind eye or remain silent" on the issue of family.
"The fifth commandment asks us to promise to honour thy father and thy mother," the group said. But "the government continues to devalue fatherhood" while churches "sit back and does little".
Splinter group
RF4J is a splinter group of the mainstream Fathers4Justice campaign, which disbanded after reports of a foiled plot to kidnap Prime Minister Tony Blair's five-year-old son Leo.
The campaign, which said none of its members were involved in any kidnap plot, had carried out several daring stunts to highlight their cause in recent years.
One protestor, dressed as Batman, spent five hours on a balcony at Buckingham Palace, while another threw purple flower bombs at Mr Blair in the House of Commons.
A Westminster Abbey spokeswoman said they were "happy to listen to views presented in a calm and rational way".
She added: "We understand and want to defend legitimate protests but would be disappointed if such protests interfered with the worship of thousands of members of the public over Holy Week."
