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'Batman' Ends Buckingham Palace Ledge Protest

By PATRICK E. TYLER

Published: September 13, 2004



Jason Hatch, a Fathers 4 Justice campaigner, protesting on a balcony at Buckingham Palace in London.

LONDON, Sept. 13 — A group that advocates greater rights for fathers in child custody cases sent two of its operatives over the fence at Buckingham Palace today and one of them, dressed as Batman, scampered up a ladder to a ledge near the Queen's balcony, setting off a security alert and a tense standoff with police.

Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family were not in residence and were said to be at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on holiday. The intruder, later identified as Jason Hatch, 33, of Cheltenham, unfurled a banner on the edifice of the British monarchy's massive state residence that said "Super Dads of fathers 4 justice, fighting for your right to your kids." Although there have been numerous breeches of royal security over the years, Britons seemed startled by the ease with which palace security was overrun by two men in super hero costumes carrying an extension ladder.

For the next several hours, Mr. Hatch waved at befuddled crowds of tourists denied access to the popular Buckingham Palace tour in its final weeks of the summer season. He also engaged in an uneasy repartee with embarrassed police and palace security officials who tried to talk him down from the ledge.

After five and a half hours, he removed his batman mask and agreed to come down. Police used a crane to extract him from the ledge as his supporters chanted "free Batman" from behind a police cordon.

The breech raised immediate questions about the state of security for the royal family and Britain's other governmental institutions at a time when British intelligence services continue to warn that London is a prime target for the Al Qaeda terrorist network and affiliated groups.

This was the latest in the modern history of royal intrusions. In 1982, the Queen awoke one morning to find a man, Michael Fagan, sitting on her bed. She conversed with him for 30 minutes before he was arrested. In 1994, a naked American paraglider, James Miller, landed on the palace roof. He was deported.

But there have been life-threatening assaults as well, such as the attempted kidnapping of Princess Anne in 1974.

Fathers 4 Justice is a purely domestic and non-violent group that has employed increasingly daring publicity stunts to draw attention to its cause.

The same group temporarily shut down the House of Commons four months ago when it pelted Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was addressing the body, with condoms filled with purple flour from the visitors gallery, prompting new security measures in Parliament.

On Saturday, one of its members, dressed as Spiderman, scaled the giant London Eye Ferris wheel, causing the attraction to be shut down for several hours.

Last year, Buckingham Palace's security underwent a thorough review after a reporter for the tabloid Daily Mirror got a job as one of the Queen's footmen shortly before the visit of President Bush. The tabloid stunt was designed to demonstrate how easy it was to breech palace procedures for screening personnel. The Mirror exposé led to a major security review that is now under question.

"Were not terrorists, were not subversives, were just decent dads," said Dave Pyke, who approached reporters on the palace square. He was wearing a Robin costume and identified himself as Mr. Hatch's accomplice. Mr. Pyke said he was going up the same ladder that Mr. Hatch had used moments before to get onto the palace grounds when a police officer told me to come down or he'd shoot me.

Mr. Pyke was arrested by police and taken into a nearby police van for questioning.

Late this afternoon, police moved a yellow cherry picker crane into the palace grounds and positioned it below where Mr. Hatch stood on the ledge, but police appeared to be in no hurry to force a confrontation with the intruder, who had nowhere to go and seemed intent on getting extensive national news coverage for the group.

A spokesman for the prime minister's office said that given the complexity and strong emotions surrounding custody issues, the publicity stunts were not an appropriate or effective means to advance the group's cause.

Out on the street, Roxanne Bond of San Diego, a former policewoman, said she was sure that police would just wait him out.

"They have all the time in the world and don't want to risk confronting him and doing anything that would cause him to go berserk," she said. But she betrayed some exasperation, however, as Mr. Hatch's demonstration was keeping her and her mother from visiting the palace.

"This is the kind of stuff they do in California," she said, "I hope it isn't going to blow my chance to see the inside."

posted by amanda @ 3:26 PM