Batman might have been shot

2004-09-13 19:31

London - Police have moved a crane and crash mat beneath the ledge at Buckingham palace where a Fathers 4 Justice activist, dressed as Batman, is staging a protest.

Jason Hatch, who had scaled the wall with a ladder, is standing near the balcony where royals appear on ceremonial occasions.

A police officer wearing a harness and helmet is at the balcony window, BBC reported on Monday evening.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens said if officers at the scene had judged the intruder a terrorist, he would have been shot.

He has also described the security breach at the Palace as "unacceptable".

Sir John said police made a split-second judgement that Hatch was not a security risk because of the way he was behaving and the clothes he was wearing - and for this reason they did not open fire.

The latest broaching of palace security follows other incidents, including one in which a reporter got a job as a royal servant.

In addition, Prince William's 21st at Windsor Palace was gatecrashed. And it is the latest in a series of high-profile stunts by Fathers 4 Justice costumed campaigners who have protested on the London Eye and the Church of England General Synod in York.

A police helicopter circled overhead as scores of people, including some protesters, gathered to watch from behind a police cordon.

Hatch is believed to have two children, aged four and five, who he has not seen for several years and is thought to have taken part in the York protest.

A group of Fathers 4 Justice campaigners are believed to have distracted police by climbing the front gate, while Hatch climbed over the outer fence.

'Robin' stopped

Fellow protester Dave Pyke, 48, dressed as Batman's sidekick Robin, was stopped by armed police as he tried to scale the fence.

He told BBC News Online: "We are totally untrained, just ordinary guys and if we can get in there, anybody can get in there."

Pyke added he was surprised not to have been arrested.

"I thought I would be pounced on by the police. I went over to the park and put on a coat and cap and came back," he said.

Fathers 4 Justice was set up by fathers who have either no access, or very limited access to their children, and feel they have been treated unfairly by courts.

The Daily Mirror's former royal correspondent, James Whitaker, said palace staff were "gobsmacked" and home secretary David Blunkett had to take responsibility.

He told BBC News 24: "It's absolutely incredible that someone's managed to do this.

This is the balcony where on the great days of state and when someone gets married in the family, they stand on this balcony and wave to everyone.

"It's a bit of a holy of holies there and if the Queen has heard about this, she would be absolutely livid."

- News24