An account of an anti-scientology demonstration- Martin Poulter

Yesterday (Wednesday the 12th July, 1995), about 25 protestors
demonstrated outside Scientology's shop on Tottenham Court Road, London,
to publicise tonight's "The Big Story" documentary on ITV (7.30- watch
it!). We held placards and handed out leaflets. This was met by a
counter-demonstration by the scieno's.

The two demos managed to co-exist without a disturbance, but it was not at
all as peaceful and friendly as the previous demonstrations that have been
described on a.r.s. I had never taken to the streets in protest about
anything before, but when I heard that there was a protest in London, I
knew I *had* to be there.

Before the demo, there were two security leaks. The scienos somehow found
out about last month's secret meeting at which the publicity campaign was
discussed. They obtained a handout from the meeting which detailed out plan
to lobby MP's, the press, community leaders and so on. They knew that they
were going to be picketed. Shortly before the demo, *we* heard that the
atmosphere in the orgs was of real panic and that the scientologists were
preparing for "the storm" !!! We decided that if we were asked our names we
call ourselves "S-T-O-R-M, Storm". Amongst the band of demonstrators there
was Gail Storm, Norman Storm, Force Ten Storm, Ron Storm, Mary-Sue Storm, 
I. C. Storm and so on. As we set off from our Secret Location, we heard that
two police constables would be there in case of trouble (in fact they had
to send three!)

As we marched along the road to the org, we had no idea what was going to
happen. Would the scieno's react? Would they try to cause trouble? How
would they feel about having their org picketed when they are trying to
recruit people to keep their "stats" up? As we approached, I experienced
what is truly the strangest moment of my life. I heard the chant:

	What do we know?
		THE TRUTH ALWAYS WINS!
	What do we know?
        		THE TRUTH ALWAYS WINS!
	What do we know?
		THE TRUTH ALWAYS WINS!
	What do we know?
 		THE TRUTH ALWAYS WINS!
Packed into the space right in front of the shop was a bunch of
scientologists waving banners and (calling the program "The Lie Story" and
demanding "honest journalism"). The police told us that we could not
demonstrate on the same stretch of pavement, so we took up positions on
either side of the shop and on the other side of the road. Some of their
people came out and stood among our lot, waving placards. It seems that
their intention was to make it look like it was all one demonstration
*against* the TV programme. They succeeded in this to an extent, in that it
was not obvious at first glance that there two separate demonstrations. 

We handed out a leaflet advertising the program and calling for people to
write to Michael Howard and to their MP's demanding that the government takes
action. The scienos had a specially prepared issue of "Freedom" magazine,
which dead-agented Carlton TV and the ex-scientologists that they had
consulted. Twenty-twenty was referred to as "one of the most notorious
tabloid programmes on television"[!] and the reporter who infiltrated them
to film with a concealed camera was compared to "a reporter for the Nazis
entering a Synagogue under false pretenses."

The scieno's made sure they got photographs and video of each of the
protestors. Margaret Reese, their Public Affairs Director, came around
talking to each of us, asking for our names and motivations for
protesting. Later she told us that the leaflets we were handing out were
defamatory and grounds for a suit- we just ignored her. Margaret is the
replacement for Peter Mansell, who was seen yesterday morning looking very
tired and ill- perhaps he has been through Scientology's infamous "ethics
conditions" for his failure to "handle" the press? (Let's hope that isn't
true, and let's hope Margaret doesn't get put in an ethics condition for
her failure to prevent yesterday's massive PR disaster :-> )

It was interesting to see the reactions of some people to being handed the
Freedom leaflet. I saw two people tearing their copies up and littering the
pieces on the pavement. A few people made a point of handing it back when
they saw what it was. Our side got a much better response from the public:
reactions included "Thank God someone's doing this at last!" "Do you have
a petition for me to sign?" and "You're demonstrating against them? But this
is a dangerous cult!" Some people told us about their own experiences with
the cult, which we were of course very interested to hear.

As time went on the scieno's became more agitated. One woman started
shouting "WHAT is your PROBLEM with this FUCKING CHURCH?" She got so
carried away that before she knew it she was yelling straight into a
policeman's face. Maybe I'm biased, but I do not think the way they
presented themselves to the public created a positive image at all. They
were certainly not doing much to dispel the idea that they are cult victims.

At 3 o'clock, after two and three-quarter hours of demonstrating, we
withdrew for a drink and then handed out the remaining leaflets in another
part of London.

It's difficult to assess what effect we had. Hopefully a lot of people,
reading each side's leaflet, will see what is going on. We didn't get
as much press interest as we hoped for, but perhaps enough of the people
we leafleted and talked to will agree with us for there to be a rush of
leaflets through Michael Howard's letterbox.