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F4J Under Attack

October 25, 2005 permalink

The following letter relates not to child protection, but to its family law twin, divorce. Fathers for Justice, F4J, has engaged in many high-profile stunts to publicize the atrocities of family law, but its effectiveness has been dulled over the last few months. The following letter from F4J founder Matt O'Connor shows why. An F4J Canada leader has also told of enhanced surveillance.

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22/10/05

Dear All,

A big thanks to everyone who turned up yesterday especially given that at 10.00am the thing looked like a wash out! Half hour later though the sun burst through and stayed with us for what was a great demo given the turmoil of the last 6 months.

The Police presence was staggering. At one point I counted 20 Police vans full of cops both in front and behind the demo. Anyone would think they didn't trust us. It far outweighed any previous policing seen at an F4J demo.

An especially BIG thanks to Jenny, Eddie and our compere Glen for giving the courts welly.

Another BIG thanks to Andy Work and Joh Pointer who missed the demo after being kept in overnight by Kent Police after Thursdays M25 Gantry demo which proved to be a useful 'probing' exercise for future plans.

On a different note it was inevitable that as soon as we were back in action the knives would be out. It is my belief (though for various reasons we cannot disclose why) that a serious attempt was made by the authorities to bring down F4J in June of this year using undercover Police Officers recruited at the end of 2004. This is a common tactic where 'trusted' fellow members who are actually undercover police use that trust to create internal strife and division.

The point is also illustrated by the fact that part of the ITV network have been filming covertly within F4J after recruiting ex security guards to infiltrate the organisation. We were tipped off in November last year and May of this year that this was happening by people they tried to recruit.

We believe that a team of at least 3 people were involved and footage was taken at various meetings including London, the South Coast and Bristol though it appears that since other splinter groups are not being effective, ITV are not interested in them which I guess proves how effective we are unfortunately!!!

This again is another attempt to try and discredit our campaign however we will never be deflected from allowing such attempts to bring this organisation down be it by the Police, the government or parts of the media.

We can't say anything more about the matter at this stage other than we will deal with this in the most appropriate manner. It should go without saying that given all the above we expect people to behave appropriately at meetings and other gatherings.

Given the amount of positive PR we have enjoyed recently thanks to Guy Harrison such hatchets are inevitable however given this new media campaign and the high profile Police treatment we are receiving it is fair to say that we could be in for a rough couple of months.

Lets stick together and hold fast.

On a better note the Sunday Telegraph this weekend should be running a piece on Guy Harrison and his partner Emily. Hopefully this will be another good piece of positive PR.

Good luck to all, get stuck into the campaign and lets keep up the fight. Remember F4J is the ONLY credible force for change. Lets make every action count, let us shake this country and rouse it from its slumber1

Best Wishes

Matt O'Connor

Source: F4J mailing

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