Tuesday, December 24, 2002
Militant Australian dad’s group protest no-fault divorce
A story published today by the Herald Sun reports that the militant fathers' group the Blackshirts carried child coffins during a clash with a rival group in the city yesterday.
The men, dressed in para-military uniforms and masks, were greeted by chants from community group DiSC (Diversity, Safety, Community).
In reply, Blackshirts' leader John Abbott branded the Family Court was the "Auschwitz of marriage".
"How many children have died because of it? How many children have suicided because of it? How many are denied their fathers and grandfathers because of it?"
Blackshirts want divorce laws repealed. They chose the 27th anniversary of no-fault divorce to demonstrate.
But he was drowned out by the community group and a grandmother dressed in black and a joker's hat.
DiSC was formed this year by Paula Pope and Caz Pellow-Jones, from Brunswick, to protest against the Blackshirts' tactics of heckling women they deem to be immoral outside their homes or the Family Court.
Mr. Abbott said the Black shirts would continue to go to shopping centres and railway stations to demonstrate.
