Evening Standard/London

A fathers’ rights activist who spent nearly eight hours on a roof at Buckingham Palace said taking a bullet “would have been worth the risk”.
Martin Matthews, 48, and Bobby Smith, 33, managed to breach security by using a ladder to scale the roof of the Queen’s Gallery at around 3.15pm on Sunday.
The two men eventually came down from the roof at around 11pm, and were arrested on suspicion of trespassing on a protected site.
The pair were able to climb on top of the public art gallery despite a number of police officers being nearby, Matthews said.
A spokesman for the activists said another campaigner had caused a distraction outside the palace while the two men climbed on to the roof.
Once they had scaled the building, one of the men unveiled a banner on the roof which read: “I am Harry’s dad”.
Speaking from the roof, Matthews, from Great Bookham, Surrey, told the Press Association: “We parked a road away and came with a long ladder and walked past a number of armed policemen. They presumed we were workmen.”
He said he was aware of the risks he was taking in light of heightened security concerns following the Paris terror attacks, but said the protest was “worth the risk”.
“Obviously there were a few concerns. People are going to be nervous at the moment,” he said.
“But even if I had taken a bullet, it would have been worth the risk.”
It is understood the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were not at the palace during the protest.
The demonstration was part of a joint campaign by the groups New Fathers 4 Justice and Stop The War On Dads, who have called for equal rights for fathers in divorce and separation proceedings and reform of the family courts. A third activist, James Dennis from Bishops Cleeve, Gloucestershire, also attempted to scale the roof but is thought to have failed as security arrived, the spokesman said.
Matthews said he was “delighted” the protest had raised awareness of his cause.
However, the founder of the original Fathers4Justice campaign group condemned the copycat protesters.
Matt O’Connor’s Fathers4Justice protest group gained notoriety when two members dressed as Batman and Robin climbed onto the Royal Balcony at the palace in 2004.
O’Connor said: “More than anyone we understand the frustrations of Britain’s dads at their continuing inhuman and degrading treatment.
“When we staged our Buckingham Palace protest in 2004, the climate in London was entirely different.
“However, after the terrorist attacks in Paris, it is deeply irresponsible for protestors to put themselves and the police in such a potentially dangerous position.”
Last month Matthews and Smith, from Stevenage, scaled the home of Commons leader Chris Grayling MP, in Ashtead, Surrey. Smith dressed as Elmo for the stunt.
The activist also previously scaled Westminster Abbey on Father’s Day, and dressed as the Sesame Street character when he stood against David Cameron in the Prime Minister’s constituency of Witney, Oxfordshire, in the general election.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Police were called to a report of a protest taking place at the Queens Gallery on Sunday at 4.28pm.
“Officers attended and two males were found to have climbed on to the roof of the entrance at the location.
“At approximately 11pm, the two came down from the building of their own accord.”