“Anonymous” celebrates L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday

The Internet group Anonymous today held protests critical of the Church of Scientology.

Location reports…

Adelaide, Australia

News.com.au reported that approximately 200 masked protesters gathered outside of the Church of Scientology’s headquarters in Adelaide. An anonymous spokesman told News.com.au that their group feels Scientology should not have tax-exempt status, and should not be considered a religion. At one point six police officers came by the protest; four members of a security firm stood outside the Scientology building during the protest.

Boston, Massachusetts

Correspondent: TUFKAAP

Over 250 Anonymous protesters were out in force once more on the corners, at the Boston’s Scientology church at the corner of Beacon and Hereford Streets. Protesters only took up three corners, instead all four like they did last time as police did not allow them too.

Wikinews talked to the police and was denied a video statement by one officer telling the reporter, “Get out of here,” and brushing him off. However, the reporter asked another officer if there had been any trouble. The officer responded that there had been “no trouble, just people walking back and forth.”

Some Anonymous put forward concerns about Scientology plants in the crowd trying to incite disruption, however, none was noted. Other protesters mentioned there were rumors that the Scientologists were going to bus in Scientology students to disrupt the protester, however, that did not occur.

Scientologists were outside taking photos of the protesters, unlike Feburary 10th, were they remained inside and photographing from the buliding. The Wikinews reporter asked a Scientologist why he taking pictures, he took my photograph and noted that he “was just taking pictures.” Wikinews asked a church member if he would like to give a statement to Wikinews on camera, they denied the request and told the reporter they would send a statement via email to him.

Brussels, Belgium

Correspondents: Brianmc and Stevenfruitsmaak

Starting off from a meeting point in Brussels central station, the anonymous protesters proceeded on foot to their licensed protest point outside the stock exchange. The turnout was about half that of the previous protest with only 15 or so people present. Per advice from police cake was – regrettably – not on offer. It had been pointed out this would likely get the protesters mobbed by children and vagrants.

Belgian media were in attendance again with one film crew interviewing several of the protesters and catching their banners on tape. The slogans were mostly in English, ranging from “Religion is free, Scientology isn’t” to “One billion years of servitude = super powers” – the latter a reference to the contracts that Scientologists sign when they become involved with the church.

The police presence was low-key with only one senior officer visible. However, for some reason a member of the Belgian intelligence services was in attendance.

Manchester, England

Correspondent: Anonymous101

The protest started at approximately 11:00 local time with protesters saying that over 100 people have turned up to protest for at least part of the protest. It started at Deansgate, which is the same location as the one for the start of the February 10 protests. Members of Anonymous have told Wikinews that their members started arriving at 09:00 local time.

Protesters were holding placards with statements such as “Freedom of religion – A right / Freedom to oppress – A crime.” Placards asking “How do I anger seasoned Amnesty International prize winning journalist, John Sweeney?” were also held as part of the protest. John Sweeney was heavily featured in the UK press after he produced a documentary in which he claimed representatives of the Church of Scientology were constantly following him.

As with the other protests, protesters brought cake, as a result of it being the birthday of Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology.

One of the protesters told Wikinews that “The so-called Church of Scientology’s multiple violations of the UN’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights have gone un-noticed and unchallenged for far too long.” He continued saying that “the corporation needs to learn that suppression of free speech, institution of forced labour and the more general suppression of its parishoners is both legally and morally wrong. The protests will continue until such a time that major changes are made to the Scientology’s organisational structure, or until they meet accusations of wrongdoing head-on and provide evidence that the community’s worries are unfounded.” He added that he was not “not protesting against the religion of Scientology, but the corporation that delivers it.”

London, England

Correspondents: Adambro, Skenmy, JamesHarrison

Once more, protests took place outside of both the Queen Victoria Scientology Headquarters and the Tottenham Court Road Dianetics centre. The additional time available for protesters in the aftermath of a rushed February 10th protest allowed the many of Anonymous to expand their protest to include even more outreach towards members of the public, with Anonymous members handing out free cake, sweets and other confectionery along with leaflets and stickers to passers-by.

Signage was loud and varied, proclaiming a variety of messages to the public and Scientologists. Many of the signs declared amusing yet pointed comments, with others making more serious jabs at the Church of Scientology.

Despite a larger police presence at the Tottenham Court Road protest, the protesters and Scientologists were both peaceful. Police officers, when asked if they had had any problems with the protesters, replied, somewhat jovially, ‘I can’t really speak to you, the only thing I can say is ‘No comment’. No problems. I mean no comment.’

Buffalo, New York

Correspondent: DragonFire1024

Throughout the day, nearly 100 protesters including ex-Sea Org Scientology member Chuck Beatty, turned out in Buffalo with signs and enthusiasm. It was a cold and foggy day with temperatures in the low 30’s (F) which is significantly warmer than the previous February 10 protests that drew only about 50 people. People filled Main Street across from the Church in a line which extended an entire city block. A radio was on hand playing ‘Rick Roll’ and also the audio recording of the Scientology interview with Tom Cruise.

The day started off with an off duty Buffalo Police detective instructing the crowd to protest peacefully. The detective, who was identified to Wikinews only as ‘Detective Tim’ then immediately told protesters to remove masks that could be considered threatening. Scarves were allowed as it was a cold day, but bandannas were not permitted to be worn.

Wikinews was earlier accused of being “fake” and Detective ‘Tim’ refused to give a statement to Wikinews saying “no media. You made that (press badge) from the internet. I never seen this site before.” ‘Tim’ then refused outright to give his last name and badge number. ‘Tim’ was quoted only during his time speaking publicly to the protesters.

Shortly after instructing people to remove masks, ‘Tim’ then accused a member of Anonymous of “portraying an Arabic terrorist” because of a scarf he was wearing and asked him to remove it.

Shortly after, at least three protesters were detained by police and questioned after taking photographs and video of the Church from across the street. Police approached the three and began to “yell” at them. ‘Tim’ then told one protester that “the Church want you arrested. Now how am I going to avoid that.” The protester then willingfully handed over his videotape of the church and asked not to be arrested. Subsequently all three were released without being charged. According to Detective ‘Tim’, “the tape is now the property of the police.” The protesters were not on Church property and were only filming the areas of the Church visible from across the streets.

During the protest, a member of Anonymous read a speech, which according to him, was a wordlwide speech to all Churches.

“Today – The Ides of March – is the day Julius Caesar was betrayed by those he trusted. Today we gather together as Anonymous to call attention to another betrayal of trust – that of the Church of Scientology upon its followers. Since is inception, Scientology has traded in false hopes and promises, betrayed the trust of its members, taken their money, their rights, and at times thir very lives,” said the statement.

“Last month 10,000 people demonstrated in one hundred and seven cities across the world. They came together to make the first breach in the wall of silence,” added the statement.

Despite the incident, ‘Tim’ was friendly to the protesters, even stating that “he might be back later to have a few cupcakes.”

According to a member of Anonymous, “we will come again, our numbers ever increasing, in April, May, June and July.”

New Orleans, Louisiana

The protest in New Orleans Louisiana was expressed by Anonymous as a “full win.”

One protester reports: “I was the first Anon on the scene and one of our friendly city Police officers was sitting in front of the Church of Scientology waiting for us. I went over and spoke to him for a bit. The officer asked me if I knew the rules and I said that we couldn’t block traffic or pedestrians. I also stated that we were to remain peaceful and not cause a disruption. He told me that we were welcome to stand on the median in the middle of the street where the streetcar runs or across the street but we couldn’t stand directly in front of the Scientology center. While there is a public sidewalk in front of the Church, I wasn’t going to make an issue about it. The one thing that stood out the most about this officer was that he said that he was there to protect our rights of free speech.

“I waited around for about 15 minutes before my fellow Anon started showing up. We went to the median and setup. At this point the officer came over and talked to us as a group (6 of us at this point). He said that he got off at 4:00 a.m. and this was a detail for him. He asked us what our protest was about because he wanted to understand what he was guarding. We gave him some fliers, discussed our presence there, and asked him to do some research on the net. He thanked us for talking to him and said that he would look the information up.

We had a lot of honks from cars passing by. Unlike last time the streetcars were running and we were able to hand fliers to the people on the car as they passed. One of the streetcar drivers even stopped so that she could get a flier.

There were a couple of Scientologists from the February 10 protests that took a few pictures, but for the most part they stayed inside. The one big confrontation that we had was from a Scientologist mom with her kids in a minivan. She pulled to the end of the driveway and was talking on her cell phone. One of our guys kept trying to direct her into traffic when it was clear. When she did finally pull out she stopped and blocked two lanes of traffic to tell us, “What do you know about Scientology!” We said that we knew plenty cause it’s all over the internet. She made a few other mean comments then the police office started his siren cause she was blocking traffic. She finally moved and went to the U-turn lane over the median and stopped. One of our Anons went over to hand her a flier while I walked behind to film. She started asking, “Why are you trying to make fun of me when I have kids in the car?” I said, “We weren’t making fun of you we were trying to be helpful.” We traded a few other words which will be on the video when I post it. The police officer pulled up in his car behind her and hit the siren telling her to move it along. She stuck her head out of the car and said, “They were shouting obscenities at me.” This to which the officer said, “I didn’t hear any obscenities move along NOW!”

After she left, she drove down the street where some members of Anonymous were getting materials from their car. At this point she started to harass the members, and she insisted on remaining next to their car. Fearful for the car’s safety, the Anonymous member moved it closer to within site of the protest.

Our cake showed up around 1:00 p.m. It said: ‘Happy Birthday L. Ron from all of your SP’s.’

Around 1:45 p.m. a Transit unit police officer pulled up on the median and told us that we were causing a disruption by being on the streetcar line and that our presence there was a liability to the city. I mentioned that we had been told that we could be there by the other officer. He stated, “I’m not trying to restrict your right to protest or your free speech but you are causing a disturbance on the streetcar line and you will have to move to the sidewalks.” The rest of Anonymous figured it was time to go and headed off to an after party in the French Quarter.

I walked over to the first police officer to thank him for his presence today. He thanked me for our keeping things civil. He said, “Well you’ve been out here for about three hours. Hopefully you’ve got your message across.”

Overall, the reception in New Orleans was very positive. Members of Anonymous got many passersby interested in the effort, as well as lots of supportive honks from passing vehicles.

Interview

This interview was carried out yesterday with two of the Manchester protestors.

* Wikinews Why do you consider it important to take part in the protests?

Anonymous Member 1: We consider it important to take part, most of us are regular internet uses who believe in free speech. The CoS has on numerous instances suppressed the flow of information regarding any of their critcisms or more estoteric beliefs. Examples include the ARS newsgroup during the 90s, and the recently leaked Tom Cruise video.

We are taking part to demonstrate our beliefs that freedom of knowledge and information are basic human rights. Most of us have also done our own research regarding the CoS, and come to the conclusion that it is a malign cult, that harms its members and tries to subvert public opinion to further its own ends.

* WNHow many people do you expect to attend the protests worldwide?

Anon. 1: No real way of knowing until the day and headcounts are done, but we are hoping to exceed Feb 10th due to a lot of Anonymous members not turning up due to fear of retaliation, laziness, or generally not being sure of what to do. Videos of the Feb10th have shown how peaceful yet fun the protests are, so we are hoping to do quite well on the 15th.

* WN Why are you protesting against CoS?

Anon. 1: We are protesting the CoS, not the religious doctrine itself. Whilst many of us may disagree with some of the faiths tenants, we believe freedom of religion is every persons right. However the CoS uses this sacred human right to perform immoral and illegal actions, whilst labelling anyone who criticises it as Religious Bigots, terrorists, or criminals.

* WN Many people consider some of the actions taken by anonymous illegal. Do you think your actions are justified?

Anon. 2: The problem with this question is the way anonymous is organised, as it isn’t organised. its just a collection of people from various corners of the internet. if someone makes a threat to the CoS and says they’re anonymous there’s nothing we can do to stop them saying that, anonymous doesn’t have a membership card.
Anon. 1: Yes.

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