A member of Bermudians Against the Draft (BAD) is on hunger strike in Warwick Camp after he was arrested for avoiding Regiment Service.

Lamont Marshall, a holder of multiple national road running records, was arrested at work at around 4 p.m. yesterday after he failed to attend an exemption-from-service tribunal.

Hours later, a second BAD member, Jamel Hardtman turned himself, in what the group's<\p>leader Larry Marshall described as a demonstration of solidarity.

Mr. Marshall, who is Lamont's father, said: "As a parent, speaking on behalf of my wife and I, we are absolutely devastated that this has happened, and is allowed to happen.

"Lamont has gone on hunger strike. He is determined that he will not eat, and he will not buckle.

"Jamal went to Warwick Camp voluntarily to show solidarity. They are trying to break up the group, but we won't allow it."

The arrest comes after numerous legal battles between the Regiment and BAD since 2006.

BAD had argued that military conscription is unconstitutional and sexist as only men are conscripted.

Fourteen members of the group were granted temporary deferment from military service while they pursued their case, but that deferment ended when their bid to change the law was defeated in the Privy Council.

Lamont Marshall and Mr. Hardtman were supposed to resume Regiment duty by June 3, but the pair failed to attend a Regimental tribunal, saying that it was "hastily convened," and the group did not want to rush into anything.

"We are not just doing this for ourselves," Larry Marshall said.

"This has happened to hundreds of young men over the years and it is shocking to me that a so-called progressive government is allowing something so anachronistic.

"This is supposed to be a 21st century democracy, but in the Regiment we have a totalitarian system.

"It has no place in Bermuda."