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May 28, 2004
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Robert Robinson, dressed as Batman, climbed a Bosa construction crane at Middlegate Mall in Burnaby.
Forty-year-old Robert Robinson of Maple Ridge was that masked man. He wass perilously perched atop a construction crane last Saturday in Burnaby performing an unabashed act of civil disobedience.
In the early morning hours, Robinson suited up in a tailor-made Batman costume and scaled the eight-storey crane lugging with him a large banner he would unfurl once he reached the top.
Emblazoned on the banner were two words and a letter which read: Fathers 4 Justice.
Robinson is a member of an international organization of the same name whose aim is to raise awareness for what he calls gross inequities within the family justice system when it comes to granting custody to fathers following divorce settlements. Some of their methods are radical.
"I took to the sky looking for justice. Fathers are routinely denied access to children. I know countless fathers who have had seven or eight access orders denied," Robinson said Tuesday, following his weekend stunt, which landed him in jail with charge of public mischief pending against him - a charge he eagerly accepts and has no plans to dispute. He has also been ordered to stay away from all construction cranes as a condition of his release.
Robinson intended to spend the entire Victoria Day long weekend at the top of the tower crane at Middlegate Mall, but was talked down after 18 hours by senior RCMP negotiators, who promised to meet his short list of demands before he would give himself up peacefully.
Those demands included he be arrested by a particular officer once on solid ground, the banner remain aloft for the whole weekend and there be a cup of either Starbucks or Tim Hortons coffee waiting for him.
He says all demands were met, including the "hot cup of Timmy's." Robinson became involved in the Fathers 4 Justice organization, he explains, after years spent in the courts trying unsuccessfully to gain visitation rights to his daughter. Fathers 4 Justice originated in England and has gained notoriety for the their Greepeace-like public protests, which include crane stunts like Robinson's, disrupting traffic and even throwing a condom filled with purple-coloured flour at Prime Minister Tony Blair in a recent House of Commons session. The condom throw, admits Robinson, was a little over the top in light of world events the last few years. "We are extreme in a sense that we're willing to be arrested through acts of civil disobedience," Robinson explained, adding though, the group is non-violent and tries to get its message across with humour and theatrics. According to the Fathers.ca website, Robinson's Batman in Burnaby theatrics are just the "start of civil disobedience protests" across the nation with more appearances by other members of the super hero family planned for major Canadian cities.
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F4J Canada © 2004
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