Police in standoff with men on Buckingham Palace rooftop
Police officers are in a standoff with two protestors who have climbed on top of the roof of Buckingham Palace.
The two men, who are protesting about fathers’ rights, used a ladder to get on top of the Queen’s Gallery after bypassing security at around 3:15pm today.
Police were called to the scene at around 4:30pm.
— Fathers Justice (@JusticeFathers) November 29, 2015
According to the Evening Standard, one of the men, 48-year-old Martin Matthews, said over the phone that it was “easier to climb on the roof of Buckingham Palace than getting to see one’s children these days”.
The Evening Standard also reported that, despite the miserable weather, Matthews and fellow protestor 33-year-old Bobby Smith are in high spirits and have coffee and donuts.
The rooftop’s occupation is part of a joint campaign by New Fathers 4 Justice and Stop The War On Dads. Neither group is associated with Fathers 4 Justice UK or its founder Matt O’Connor.
A third activist was also reported to have attempted to clamber onto the roof but failed to get past security.
At around 8:55pm, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that the incident was ongoing.
A New Fathers 4 Justice spokesperson said: “We use direct action and protests to highlight the injustice fathers’ face in the present family court system.
“We want nothing less than a legal presumption of equal contact for a child with their parents if they split up, and the abolition of the deeply controversial, undemocratic secret court system that still exists within the ‘family’ division despite forty years of inequality and protest.”