A group of men from the Father’s Right’s Defence Movement picketed in front of courts in Lodz, central Poland, Wednesday, demanding equal treatment in family courts.

The fathers carried signs with slogans such as, “Courts, give us back our children” and “Stop state violence, our kids are ours”.

The protest was prompted by the case of Mateusz, a nine-year-old boy whose father has accused his mother of kidnapping him and taking him Denmark.

Andrzej Slonawski, of the ‘Porozumienie Rawskie,’ organization says that the group demands Polish courts raise their standards to European levels and treat both mothers and fathers with equal legal status.

“Polish courts rule on the assumption that the best father is always worse than the worst mother,” claims Slonawski.

The picketing fathers stand solidly against changes proposed to family law, set to go into effect in June, to put the mother as the main ‘caretaker’ of children in the family.

Only five percent of fathers in Poland are granted the right to care for their child.

Similar demonstrations have been held before family courts in Lublin, Wroclaw, Czestochowa, Warsaw, Szczecin, Milicz, Olsztyn, Elblag, Gdansk, Gdynia and Zakopane. (mmj/pg)