Dads stage Town Hall roof protest

They've scaled Buckingham Palace, climbed York Minster and closed Bristol Suspension Bridge. And yesterday Fathers 4 Justice brought their campaign home - to Cheltenham Town Hall.

The drama unfolded at 10am as two Cheltenham dads scrambled onto the roof.Dressed as Spiderman and Batman, they intended to disrupt the General Election count which they thought was happening in the Town Hall.

Instead F4J were faced with 15 eight-year-olds competing in the recorder solo class of the Competitive Festival.

Undeterred, the dads unfurled a banner which said: "Blair and Co Family Butchers".
Secured with ropes, the masked duo perched on the edge of the rooftop balustrade.
A coachload of children arrived to perform their party piece to be greeted by the superheroes sounding an airhorn.

Adults tried to hurry the youngsters inside but they squealed in delight at seeing their superheroes in the flesh.

Minutes later two police officers turned up in shirt sleeves and joined them on the roof.
Attempts to talk the duo down failed. Spiderman and Batman turned their backs defiantly and continued to salute honking cars and waving pedestrians below.
Cheltenham campaigner Jason Hatch, unable to join the rooftop protest because of bail restrictions, paced the pavement down below, beaming from ear to ear and clad in an F4J T-shirt and anorak.

He said: "On election day we wanted to people to think about children who have suffered at the hands of the Labour Party.

"They're trying to create a generation of McDads. They think generous contact is a Saturday afternoon with your child taking them to McDonald's. I wish I was up there because it's my home town." Dressed as Batman, dad of two Dean Smith, who lives in Sun Street, in Cheltenham, is new to F4J campaigning. He came off the roof at 12.30pm and was promptly arrested by police.

Spiderman Colin Baker, a father of one from Bishop's Cleeve, is an old hand.
He held the ladder which Jason used to scale a Buckingham Palace balcony last September.
He vowed to remain on the roof until midnight, and stuck it out until 1am.
In the afternoon police cordoned off the front of the Town Hall and arrested Jason and fellow campaigners Dan Beach and Dave Pyke.

F4J member Peter Danby said: "The police tried to arrest me for using my mobile phone.
"They thought I was communicating with Spiderman. It's madness. We're not the IRA." Watching from an Imperial Square balcony, across the road, businessman Will Barnes said: "It's a message that Tony Blair should listen to. The Town Hall's had some distinguished visitors - the Queen, Cherie Blair and now F4J." A police spokeswoman said three people had been arrested and were being held in custody.