On Saturday, July 24, about 25 members of New Fathers 4 Justice met up on Wood Green, outside the Three Pigeons Inn, before taking their protest into Witney town centre. Dressed as comic book superhero characters, they toured the town with loudspeakers and horns demanding that the Prime Minister come out and met them to discuss their grievances.
Nigel Ace, the spokesperson for New Fathers 4 Justice, said: “The government is not giving fathers equal status in order to see their children after separation or divorce. Basically, if mothers stop contact, hundreds of thousands of dads each year are stopped from seeing their children. That can lead into protracted court cases that can go on for years. One of the people I came up with today has been fighting since 2004, another chap has not seen his daughter since she was one, and she has now turned 18.”Witney Town Council had warned the group that camping on the public green in Woodstock Road would be breaking the law, but they threatened to disperse across the area and “cause mayhem” if they were stopped from camping. On Sunday the protestors, escorted by the police, went to the Prime Minister’s house in Dean in the morning and made declarations over a loudspeaker. It is not thought the PM was in at the time of the visit.
Samantha Haynes from Wootton, was one of a number of women who also attended the event, dubbed ‘Witney’s Glastonbury festival of Fatherhood’. Dressed as Wonder Woman, she said: “I’ve got four children, and I’m allowed one of them full-time, the other three I see 18 hours a year. So I’m a great believer in New Fathers 4 Justice and think we should have equal status, as two parents are better than one.”
Organiser Nigel Ace also leafleted the West Oxfordshire Conservative Association office at Waterloo House wearing a David Cameron mask, and said the protest could be organised on a monthly basis in the future.
