Saturday 10th May saw worldwide protests against the Church of Scientology, a multi-million dollar cult infamous for its abuse of its members and harassment of its critics. This time, the police did their job for them.
During the first picket of the day, outside the Church of Scientology's building in Queen Victoria Street in the heart of the City of London, a protestor was approached by police. He was requested to take down a placard he had brought, reading "Scientology is a dangerous cult."
The request was under section 5 of the public order Act, which reads as follows:
"Section 5 - Harassment, alarm or distress
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he - a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour. or b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting, within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby"
The protestor responded with a quote from Judge Latey, who in the Old Bailey in 1984 stated the following:
"Scientology is both immoral and socially obnoxious...It is corrupt sinister and dangerous. It is corrupt because it is based on lies and deceit and has its real objective money and power for Mr. Hubbard... It is sinister because it indulges in infamous practices both to its adherents who do not toe the line unquestionly and to those who criticize it or oppose it. It is dangerous because it is out to capture people and to indoctrinate and brainwash them so they become the unquestioning captives and tools of the cult, withdrawn from ordinary thought, living, and relationships with others."
He then refused to take the sign down. After fifteen minutes police officers returned, took down his details, and issued him with a court summons. This would mean facing not only the ordeal of a trip through the court system, but also the possibility of being publicly identified and at risk of the cult's notorious Fair Game policy (ironically the target of the very protest in question), which states that enemies of the Church of Scientology may be "tricked, sued, lied to or destroyed."
This is by no means an isolated incident. In Edinburgh, protestors were prevented from using a megaphone or saying the word "cult," and were confined to a small area. In Manchester, meanwhile, protestors were coralled into a small space by police units, chanting was forbidden, and rumour has it police dog squads were deployed. A few weeks before the most recent demonstration, a small group of protestors were confronted at Tottenham Court Road by a series of police vans and cars and forced to leave the area following a bogus complaint of harassment by the Scientology centre there.
Why are British police forces allowing a cult to harass its members through the legal system? How will this affect upcoming protests? Is there more to this than meets the eye?
Further info:
- Interview with protestor issued with court summons,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgq9xOWgmhs
- Previous incident at Tottenham Court Road (note false claim from the police that all protests require a permit), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx71t7WbBic
- Scientology gets police to push Narconon, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article3216965.ece
- Scientology and the City of London police, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/nov/22/freedomofinformation.religion
- Scientology, the Metropolitan Police, and Number 10, https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2008/04/396963.html
The request was under section 5 of the public order Act, which reads as follows:
"Section 5 - Harassment, alarm or distress
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he - a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour. or b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting, within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby"
The protestor responded with a quote from Judge Latey, who in the Old Bailey in 1984 stated the following:
"Scientology is both immoral and socially obnoxious...It is corrupt sinister and dangerous. It is corrupt because it is based on lies and deceit and has its real objective money and power for Mr. Hubbard... It is sinister because it indulges in infamous practices both to its adherents who do not toe the line unquestionly and to those who criticize it or oppose it. It is dangerous because it is out to capture people and to indoctrinate and brainwash them so they become the unquestioning captives and tools of the cult, withdrawn from ordinary thought, living, and relationships with others."
He then refused to take the sign down. After fifteen minutes police officers returned, took down his details, and issued him with a court summons. This would mean facing not only the ordeal of a trip through the court system, but also the possibility of being publicly identified and at risk of the cult's notorious Fair Game policy (ironically the target of the very protest in question), which states that enemies of the Church of Scientology may be "tricked, sued, lied to or destroyed."
This is by no means an isolated incident. In Edinburgh, protestors were prevented from using a megaphone or saying the word "cult," and were confined to a small area. In Manchester, meanwhile, protestors were coralled into a small space by police units, chanting was forbidden, and rumour has it police dog squads were deployed. A few weeks before the most recent demonstration, a small group of protestors were confronted at Tottenham Court Road by a series of police vans and cars and forced to leave the area following a bogus complaint of harassment by the Scientology centre there.
Why are British police forces allowing a cult to harass its members through the legal system? How will this affect upcoming protests? Is there more to this than meets the eye?
Further info:
- Interview with protestor issued with court summons,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgq9xOWgmhs - Previous incident at Tottenham Court Road (note false claim from the police that all protests require a permit),
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx71t7WbBic - Scientology gets police to push Narconon,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article3216965.ece - Scientology and the City of London police,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/nov/22/freedomofinformation.religion - Scientology, the Metropolitan Police, and Number 10,
https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2008/04/396963.html
Homepage:
Comments
Hide the following 12 comments
Good Video..
12.05.2008 16:30
Given the articles in the Guardian, the Times, and Indymedia which document the CoS wooing the top police officers with VIP treatment I think I know which one is more likely..
Mike
Additional information
12.05.2008 17:25
97% of those who took part in an online poll in a recent edition (27/4/08) of "The Irish Times" decided Scientology was a Dangerous Cult. The poll was part of the newspaper's "Head 2 Head" section sees a topical subject debated online and in hardcopy form.
"Wikileak" files on the Dangerous Cult of Scientology
"Scientology "enrollment application, agreement and general release" form (section 1).", which according to document time stamps was scanned in from paper form on Sat Apr 26 11:08:04 2008.
Anyone who wishes to attend or participate in one of Scientology's religious services MUST sign this document before they can do so. Section two of the contract effectively defines everything Scientology does as a "religious service"."
Scientology cult confidential files legal agreement and four others
Recruitment Guide
Scientology CEO 911 "wake-up call" pitch (didn't Tony Blair say it was a wake-up call too?
.:. predator of Xenu
Welcome
12.05.2008 18:22
I agree with Anonymous and wish you all the best, but :
Now that the novelty factor has worn off (as far as the cops are concerned) - you will be treated just like all the other political campaigns.
It is a myth that we have 'free speech' in this country and you may start to learn that we have sleepwalked into a police state.
Just look at section 145 of SOCPA - or indeed SOCPA in general.
Rights that go back to the Magna Carta, that have taken hundreds of years to get, have been wiped out since 1997.
Please - keep up your good work campaigning against the Church of Scientology - but think about the wider implications of the response that you have experienced.
Just as you wish to campaign for you cause, so do others wish to campaign for thiers - and we all face repression and court action for simple peaceful protest in the UK.
This type of policing means that people are now not allowed to engage in the normal democratic process.
Best of luck guys.
Freedom
Could be the missing link
12.05.2008 19:45
Some folks do seem to be of the opinion that there is a link between Scientology and Freemasonry
which seems to be rebuffed by most of the so called experts who relying on confronting the
stated ideology and official rules that the two sects supposedly exist under.
As both operate in the shadows it's not easy to be exactly sure what they get up to/
But one thing for sure the City of London police are masonic and probably the MET and all the rest of them.
The City of London itself is one big masonic lodge and sitting on the top are the City Bankers, the dudes with
the power. The city is a place where people with power and influence meet in clubs and private pent houses
on top of dick shaped building and decide how things are gonna be.
I guess that the people behind Scientology wield quite a considerable wedge, or capital anyway power
and they also circulate in the sort of circles where you can get most of your problems solved with a
couple of dodgy handshakes and a contribution to some ones election campaign.
I'd be interested in knowing more about what kind of structure Scientology has. innit
City Banker
Yes, Welcome
12.05.2008 20:17
I don’t support anon as I have a relative (happily) within Scientology and believe it’s a matter of choice. I however would like to second ‘freedom’s’ post. I am an animal rights campaigner and whilst peacefully protesting you will be given all sorts of nonsense from the cops.
The best thing for any campaigner is to try and know the law inside out, the cops don’t and that can work to your advantage.
You are now running a campaign and to the cops you are a threat, your not just that Internet group anon having IRL protests for the lulz, to the cops your now just like the rest of us.
Animal Liberation – Human Rights
Police harrasment
13.05.2008 07:40
As your camaign could end up with the same police/corporate repression that went on with their campaign, they emerged successful.
Fly Posters
Re: City Banker
13.05.2008 10:17
The Met (is that different from City of London police, I don't know I'm Glaswegian) - publicly declared themselves to be supportive of Scientology when the big London scieno centre opened. IIRC top officers prominently endorsed it and practically cut the ribbon and opened the freaking champagne at the ceremony. Google it. It was always inevitable that London would be one of the harder places to protest Scientology. The police as an organisation wouldn't see anything wrong with a mindless fascist / technocratic cult as they virtually are one themselves.
Scientology has been abusing human rights in the UK longer than anywhere else, at its "Saint Hill" centre. After Hubbard was exiled from America in the 1960s, he sailed the world and founded the so-called Sea Org, his most brainwashed and abused inner cadre. He chose Britain as the first terrestrial base for this more abusive phase of his cult. I suspect the UK police absolutely must have more information about the cult's criminal practices than any other police force, or than is publicly available.
This begs the question; how did Scientology ingratiate itself so thoroughly with the UK cops, when it is treated with hostility by other police?
anonymous
@ other anon above
13.05.2008 11:42
However it's the City of London police who get entertained at the cult's Celebrity Center in Bayswater and have been sucked up to by the cult. The same ones who harassed the poor kid over his sign...
Anonymous
The police were out of line & acting OUTSIDE the law
13.05.2008 12:52
It is harmful. See the news articles on www.scientology-london.com for more info.
John Smith
Some facts about "Xenu"...DC-8 like spacecraft..laughable
13.05.2008 15:17
laughable but if they believe in this kind of stuff and floats their boat then so be it.
loppy
Police out of their depth
14.05.2008 18:23
A case similar to this using this Act was thrown out in court not long ago. The Judge said that if people were offended they had a simple remedy - to walk away. This is the Public Order Act, and there was no threat to public order whatsoever. Neither the Scientologists nor the protesters were going to resort to violence or disorder.
Hartley Patterson
Was the UK charitu Commission wrong?
17.05.2008 06:51
or the UK Charity which issued this in 1999:
considers that both these long studies done on the crime cult dangers were stupid?
I wonder if the london police is purely stupid, or braniwnashed, or paid by the cult to try to destroy the opponents of one of the most criminal cults of the XX-XXIth centuries.
roger gonnet
e-mail:
roger.gonnet@chello.fr
Homepage:
http://www.antisectes.net