Fathers' group invade UK lottery show

Disbanded British protest group Fathers 4 Justice was relaunched in spectacular fashion when members invaded the live broadcast…

Disbanded British protest group Fathers 4 Justice was relaunched in spectacular fashion when members invaded the live broadcast of the National Lottery draw.

The BBC1 National Lottery: Jet Set programme was interrupted for several minutes on Saturday night as the six demonstrators were dragged out of the TV studio.

Activists said they had relaunched Fathers 4 Justice, which was shut down in January after extremist sympathisers were accused of plotting to kidnap Prime Minister Tony Blair's son Leo.

The group's original founder, Matt O'Connor, said members were planning "more subversion of live TV events" and hoaxes over the coming months.

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Presenters Eamonn Holmes and Sarah Cawood were left visibly shocked as the demonstrators stormed the stage, holding up the draw for this week's £17 million Superdraw jackpot.

The director cut to a shot of the National Lottery logo and BBC announcer Alan Dedicoat was forced to improvise a commentary while the protesters were removed from the studio.

Afterwards Holmes joked on air: "If anyone else is going to protest, please start now."

Mr Dedicoat later told BBC News 24: "We got to a point where we felt we couldn't go any further so we just put up a caption. We were trying then to decide where do we go next because time was running out, the Eurovision Song Contest was coming up in seconds."

The demonstration delayed the draw but otherwise had no impact. Fathers 4 Justice said all six protesters had been ejected from the studio but none was arrested.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said inquiries into the incident were continuing.

PA