The Northern Ireland Fathers’ Rights Movement (TFRM) demonstrated outside Londonderry Magistrates Court on Friday against “special privileges” afforded to women in family courts.

Protest organiser Aaron Gill told the Belfast Telegraph: “We are campaigning for reform of family law and want to bring to an end a system where unsubstantiated allegations can be made against the non-resident parent without supporting evidence.

“The fact is that it is still the case that in 2017, mothers and fathers do not have equal rights. We live in a society where it is the accepted norm that women should demand equality in the public sphere, while maintaining special privileges in the private sphere.

“We say this is unjust and demand equality now.”

On its Facebook page, TFRM says that it “does not support bad parents”, adding: “We strive for a presumption of 50/50 for all FIT parents. We do, however, tend to give fathers the benefit of the doubt because Family Court and society do not.”