Fathers 4 Justice Tower Bridge protest
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In October 31st 2003, David Chick, dressed as Spider-Man, climbed a crane near Tower Bridge in London to add his voice to the Fathers 4 Justice (F4J) campaign for fathers' rights. He ended up staying at the top of the 100 feet crane for six days. The stunt resulted in unprecedented press coverage for the group and its campaign.
The police cleared the area and the disruption to the city's traffic was enormous, resulting in the suspension of the London Congestion Charge for a while. Chick finally climbed down from the crane of his own accord.
Chick is not formally a member of F4J but his protests were closely identified with it in the media. F4J consequently denied planning the action although it did later approve it, but one of its spokesmen went to the scene, where a crowd built up, and the ensuing press and media coverage was considerable.
Traffic was prevented from crossing the bridge from the morning of the 31st October until November 4th which is far more disruption than was caused by David Blaine. Chick remained on the crane until the following evening. Upon descending, he was immediately arrested for causing a public nuisance.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone condemned Chick's action as being irresponsible, for the disruption it caused in the capital. Livingstone said that Chick was "amply demonstrating why some men should not have access to their own children."
However when his trial before the Southwark Crown Court in May 2004, Chick was cleared of all charges. It emerged that Chick had repeatedly stressed during the stunt that the road closures effected by police, which cost £5m per day in lost business and caused ten mile tailbacks, were unnecessary as he was of sound mind and there was no danger of him falling from the 100 feet tall crane. A senior police officer at the scene noted in a log "Climber does not like road closures so should be used as bargaining tool" and decided to keep the road closed as a way of shortening the protest.
See also
- Fathers 4 Justice Buckingham Palace protest
- Fathers 4 Justice House of Commons protest
- Fathers' rights movement in the UK
References
- News report on court case from the Daily Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/15/nspid15.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/05/15/ixhome.html)