BBC News
The Fathers 4 Justice group clashed with police after a man involved
in the flour attack on Tony Blair
was held for breaching bail conditions. Ron Davis has been banned from the
City of Westminster, after being accused of disrupting Prime Minister's
Questions. He arrived in a bus for a march on Friday which went into the
area. As he was put into a police van, other protesters jostled with
officers. The march through central London was to highlight the rights of
fathers. Glen Poole, a spokesman for the group, said the
police had re-routed the bus away from the Camden side of Lincoln's Inn
Field in to the Westminster half. Mr Poole said: "They have arrested him for
breach of bail conditions - a situation they appear to have manipulated." As police tried to drive off, protesters sat in
the road. Police lifted the protesters off the street before driving
off. June 2004
Gloucestershire Echo
Campaigning Dads
March for Rights -
Staff at
Downing Street refused entry to members of campaign group
Fathers-4-Justice despite agreeing to allow them to present a petition.
About 30 local members of the fathers' rights group took part in the
demonstration. Most of the 2,000 protesters dressed in purple, the
international colour of equality.
They waved banners and flags, banged
drums and blew horns on the peaceful march. Jason Hatch, who lives in
Cheltenham, was planning to present the petition. He said: "It was disappointing that we were refused entry but everything
else has been absolutely brilliant. Everyone has been so supportive."
19 June 2004
Daily Mail
Pressure group
Fathers 4 Justice was preparing to take the capital by storm with a series of
demonstrations. In the run-up to Father's Day this
weekend, the group, which fights for equal child access for fathers,
will march on Downing Street, armed with a petition.
F4J - best known for its flour
bomb stunt during Prime Minister's Questions - expects thousands of
supporters to attend.
Dubbed D-Day, or Day of the Dad
Civil Rights March, the demonstrators will leave Lincoln's Inn Fields in
central London and travel via the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand
and Trafalgar Square before arriving at No 10. Matt O'Connor, founder of Fathers
4 Justice, said the procession would include a giant purple balloon -
purple is the colour of international equality - as well as drummers and
stilt walkers.
On arrival at Downing Street, a
delegation of six fathers will hand over their Blueprint for Family Law
in the 21st Century. The group insists urgent reform is
needed to give fathers more power to fight for access to their children. Mr O'Connor said: "I don't think
that Father's Day will ever be seen in the same light after this year.
"After the flour bombing, we
received in excess of 11,000 inquiries from the UK and around the world. "The response has been
overwhelming, our membership projections have gone stratospheric."
June 2004
Sky
News
Pressure group Fathers 4 Justice have
clashed with police during a day of protest in the run-up to Father's Day
this weekend.
Members of the group were behind last
month's flour bomb attack in the House of Commons.
Ron Davis,48, one of the men involved in the flour attack on Prime
Minister Tony Blair, was arrested before the demo for breaching bail
conditions he received following the Commons incident.
He faces trial for threatening
behaviour and has been banned from entering the City of Westminster
following the flour stunt during Prime Minister's Question Time. He arrived
for the day of protest on a bus and police pounced when it entered the
Westminster area.
There were further clashes when
demonstrators staged a sit-down protest in the middle of central London -
officers moved in to remove them. The group, which campaigns for equal child
access for fathers, marched to the gates of Downing Street armed with a
petition. Dubbed D-Day, or Day of the Dad Civil Rights March, the
demonstrators left Lincoln's Inn Fields via the Royal Courts of Justice in
the Strand and Trafalgar Square before arriving in Downing Street.
The procession included a giant
purple balloon - the colour represents international equality. Addressing a
crowd of around 1,000 demonstrators, the group's spokesman Glen Poole, said:
"Every day 100 children are removed from their fathers' lives - this is a
travesty that the government knows about but refuses to act upon. "We are
taking the problem to Tony Blair and telling him: here is the problem, here
is the solution." June 2004
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