LONDON -Holy intruder! A protester dressed in a Batman costume scaled the front wall of Buckingham Palace on Yesterday and perched for more than five hours on a ledge near the balcony where the royal family appears on ceremonial occasions.
The protester's success in climbing the wall in front of the queen's main residence prompted fresh questions about the much-criticized and recently overhauled royal security operation.
It's not good enough and we want to know how this happened
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Two police officers in a cherry-picker crane removed the protester, Jason Hatch, from the ledge at about 7:15 p.m., 5 1/2 hours after he climbed up. His Batman mask removed and a white helmet placed on his head, he waved and clapped as the crane lowered him to the ground.
Hatch, 33, from Gloucester, is a member of the Fathers 4 Justice group, which is campaigning for greater custody rights for divorced or separated fathers and has staged a number of prominent stunts to promote their cause.
No member of the royal family was at the palace Yesterday. Queen Elizabeth II was at her Balmoral residence in Scotland.
Police were stung by the apparent ease with which Hatch climbed up to his perch. Asked if the breach was embarrassing for authorities, Stevens replied, There's no doubt it is. I've asked for a full report as soon as possible on my desk tomorrow morning. We've got to resolve the situation.
Police tried to talk to Hatch as he stood for hours above a banner bearing the words Superdads of Fathers 4 Justice Fighting for Your Right to See Your Kid.
Fathers 4 Justice members said Hatch and an accomplice dressed as Batman's partner, Robin, had climbed a palace perimeter fence while fellow protesters distracted police by creating a disturbance at the palace's front gate.
Matt O'Connor, the group's spokesman, said Hatch and the man in the Robin costume, Dave Pyke, used an extendable aluminum ladder to climb the side of the palace to the balcony.
Pyke said he came down when he'd gotten halfway up the ladder because a police officer threatened to shoot him, but no one detained him and he walked away. Police apprehended him later. He said it had been unbelievably easy to breach security.
We are totally untrained; we are just ordinary guys. If we can get in there anybody can he said.
O'Connor said the protest was timed to coincide with Yesterday's trial of another group member, Patrick Ronald Davis, 48, who is accused of throwing purple flour at Prime Minister Tony Blair in the House of Commons in May. That incident sparked a security alert, and new restrictions on public access to the chamber.
Darryl Westell, another Fathers 4 Justice activist, said Hatch had not been able to see his two children for four years even though he lived only a short walk away from them.
Not seeing your children is worse than being put in prison
Pyke said.
Blair's spokesman said, We don't believe that events like this actually help address what is the complexity of the problem.
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