June 7, 1997 - Gregg Hagglund

Toronto Ontario Canada.
June 7, 1997.

On Saturday June 7, 1997 from 2pm to 5pm an Information Picket was held at the Toronto Org of the Co$ on Yonge St.

The Picket came as a total surprise to the Org.

Picket Report by Gregg Hagglund.

[P] - within the body of the report signifies a Photograph will be webbed later.

PROLOGUE:

Greetings to ARS and others.

After the May 10 Picket several of the participants and interested parties conferred and decided that we would plan the next activity in secret on an invitation and not an advertised basis. Also we wanted to come up with an informative resource compendium pamphlet of Co$ misdeeds and factual information to disseminate to the public along with the RX Special. We also would include the RX in the pamphlet.

This resulted in one particular local critic working like a trojan to put together a nice 6 doublesided page booklet, letter size and in size 9 Times, called "DYIN'ETHICS" - The Bridge to Total Freedom. It is a nice piece of work and very well assembled. Hats off to the originator. (I will web it for others asap and hopfully have it zipped too.)

No OSA I won't let slip who done it. Earn your stats yourself.

Thursday June 5th I met briefly with PC Crook of Traffic Division of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force in order to file Notice of Demonstration.

If you recall from my last report, I did not get to have a chat with this personable fellow, but dealt with a clerk in PC Crooks absence. This time I met with PC Crook and had a short conference. It turns out last time I was misinformed or more generously, 'misunderstood' certain aspects of the Notice of Demonstration procedure as provided to me by the clerk.

You will all be delighted to know that the Toronto Police are *not* required to inform the target of the demo of the date and time and numbers etc. unless the demo is to be of such size and duration that it will automatically affect neighboring business ventures, or require street restrictions or closings.

Also, for small Demos (less that 10 pickets) Notice need not be filed at all! But if the organiser(s) want Police Protection then Notice must be given.

PC Crook, aware of the Poole assault of Roland (!) strongly advised that we always file Notice so that watch commanders could assign us protective forces.

Observations by witnesses to our May 10 picket had reservations about the wisdom of permitting a situation arising whereby our Picket were to be met with an opposing one. Since I would be filing a Notice for a certain date and time, in advance, if the Co$ counter Picketed then they would be restricted or asked to disperse until after our Demonstration. Also, given the Fair Game doctrine, if applied in a Demo situation, is just short of an incitement to riot, plus the dictum "Never fear to hurt another in a just cause" seemed to make it prudent to post on site Police Presence for the duration of our Picket.

(I guess the Toronto Police can recognise a Neo-Facsist group of Fanatics too. A group that firmly believes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms should not apply to SP wogs, or be protected by 'Wog Cops'.)

I filed Notice and PC Crook notified the watch commanders.

THE PICKET:

Saturday started out overcast and rainy, but with a happily accurate forecast for a darkclouded sky but dry afternoon.

I met with D'Artangnan and Artemis at a convenient nearby location at about 1:30. As had been communicated to us by others we would be joined in progress by more participants and at least on observer. Indeed Miss U, the observer, stopped by and spent a little time with us. Miss U was reluctant to actively picket, as is her choice, but was going to stand by as moral support and as a witness to any shenanigans by the Co$. Miss U was accompanied by her faithful companion the 'Duke of Gloucester' a beautiful Black Bouvier.[P] (As it turned out Miss U and Duke joined in on the Picket, but more on that later.)

From our observation point we were able to see no apparent rallying of the opposition,[P] but true to our own policies we would not start exactly on time. The Police showed at 1:55 pm, parking a minivan with two Constables at the corner of the side street beside the Org.[P] One constable got out and began to look about for us at 2:05pm. I decided to pay them a visit to let them know when we would start.

I made my way over to the police van and introduced myself to the two officers.

A third policeman, a Sargeant I believe, joined us in impromptu conference. I shared with them several documents, including the RX Special and the Picket Advisory that I had copies of for all participants. They were extremely appreciative that we had written codes of conduct that we wanted participants to adhere to. And they liked the content of both documents as well.

I also showed them our Picket IDs, which were 3' x 3' badges in holders to be worn suspended by a short piece of string from about the neck of the Demonstrators. The badge said:

S cientology
T yrannical
O perating
P olicies

The STOP was in bright red and the whole badge was outlined in a red border.[P]

We had also prepared and wore Lisa MacPherson Memorial T-Shirts.[P]

Each had a different question on it below a 10 x 10 colour shot of Lisa's smiling face. Mine said Why did she die? The other two asked How and Where did she die? respectively. The police asked about the Lisa shirts and I briefly filled them in. One officer seemed to be completely familiar with the case and the circumstances. He invited me to ask him his opinion of the Co$ sometime when he was "not wearing my hat".

I informed the Police we would be starting almost immediately. We exchanged handshakes and I received a chorus of "goodlucks" and then I returned to gather up the troops and equipment.

We appraoched the Org from a different side than last time and from their point of view, we just appeared out of nowhere.

It was 2:20pm and the lone body router in their doorway was completely panicked. He called inside and Rev. Buttnor made a swift appearance and approached me.

RB: "Do you have a permit Mr. Hagglund?"
WGH: "It's called a Notice and yes I have filed one."
RB: " Let's see it."
WGH: " Its on file at the Police Station, Traffic Division."
RB: " Hummph!"

And he walked away. We did not speak again for the day. (Once later in the day he looked to be approaching me purposefully, but changed his mind when I snapped his pic.[P] ) However, Rev. Buttnor soon reappeared from within the org with a Sea Orger and went over to talk to the police in the van. I did not intrude on their conversation, but Rev. Buttnor was obviously complaining and the Constables were simply shrugging their shoulders and being polite.[P]

Rev. Buttnor was very enturbulated. After leaving the police and rounding the corner of the org and out of sight, he threw a bird their way.( It was a quicky and I just missed catching it on film.)

The sidewalk was ours to command from the first moment. The manager of Brothers stepped out and asked us not to stop in front of his door. He was quite cranky about it.This was in contrast to our last visit when the Brothers staff were cordial and appreciative. I wonder what was said to them by the Rev since our May 10 appearance?

I shrugged this off and told him that I understood his position and we would do what we could to minimalize the impact on his traffic, but that I had Notice for the 696 to 700 section and that included him. This seemed to satisfy him and he vanished.

I positioned myself at the North end of our territory and began to exhort the passersby to "read the secret truths Scientology did not want you to know" "Spacelords and spaceopera -Scientologies Secret Stories" etc.All done in my best WC Fields voice. I got alot of laughs, all the usual universally complimentary encouragements and an incredible number of takers of the RX Special. I would say about 1 in 8 of those shown the flyer took one.

D'Artangnan and Artemis concentrated on the southern end of our space with Artemis ranging up to and joining me at the North. Artemis was handing out the DYIN'ETHICS Pamphlet at an incredible pace too.[P]

These were printed on a salmon pink stock and quite striking. Many people ended up with both the RX and the Pamphlet.

We had a problem tho' and one I had never seen before in all my jaundiced years of flyer dodging and taking in Toronto.

People were stopping dead in the middle of the sidewalk to *read* the DYIN'ETHICSPamphlet!

They were getting to be a hazard. *We* had to politely direct them to move to the side of the Org where there was room by the newspaper boxes to look it over.

During the course of the afternoon we handed out 240 DEPs and 300+ RX Specials.

We estimate that about 100 people recieved both so as a conservative figure I would say 400 Passersby joined in the public display of dislike for the CoS tactics. 10-20 of them taking the time to read, on the spot, much if not all of the DEP.

At about 3pm we were joined by 'Jim DeGris' [P] then at 3: 45 pm Miss U and Duke also joined us. Duke got to wear the Demo Badge.[P]

From about 10 minutes after the start earlier the Sea Orger came out with a camera and took a lot of pictures of the Picketers and then parked himself just south of our territory with a plastic garbage bag [P] that he invited people to toss our flyers in.

I don't believe he had many takers.

Now at first the body routers tried to match us somewhat from the doorway of the org. [P] And in the entrance to the main offices of the org.[P] They were hopeless. Mr. Yukayuk123 was the best of the lot. He stretched the rules a bit and actually joined me at the North corner trying to interpose himself between me and the oncoming throngs and offering a pass to the Co$ movies. He is a short earnest fellow and I am over 6 feet and was nattily attired with my new Aussie Sun hat. [P] So he was not effective. He eventually was waved off by one of the Constables and he retired to the corner of the Org [P]. From here he would occasionally exhort passersby who wanted to talk to us or ask questions with "DO NOT BLOCK THE SIDEWALK". Which only earned him dirty looks. The third time he did it I Tone 40'd "YOU DON'T TELL FREE CITIZENS WHAT TO DO. IT IS YOU WHO HAVE BEEN ENSLAVED BY SCIENTOLOGY. NOW SHUT UP AND STOP INTERFERING WITH OUR RIGHTS." He slunk off back into the org and did not emerge again.

I did have a lengthy coversation with a new Cos recruit. He wanted to know things. He said he had signed a contract to earn services because he had no money. I did my best to fill him in on what to expect from the experiences I have read of others on ARS. Finally I gave him the DEP and he stood off to oneside and read it thru'. Then he went over to Mr. YukaYuk123 and got into a heated argument. Finally he threw the DEP into Yukkies face and stromed off down the street. Yukkie threw the DEP in the trash. I saw the former recruit return later with two friends and get DEPs from Artemis.

I make that three victims spared!

Artemis had downloaded the RX Special in several languages and printed them up. This came in handy for me on one occassion. A German Tourist with little english accompanied by a local english fluent friend wanted to talk to me about the CoS and what could be done. The tourist was from Frankfurt. I offered him a German copy of the RX which delighted him and told him through his friend to copy this and spread them out in Frankfurt. He told me thru the translator that he would make 1000s of copies and spread them out via the union. I asked what union? He said the Police! He was a German Cop! Small world amd another win for Roland!

Another lady asked Artemis for help in getting the Toronto Org to leave her and her 15 year old son alone. Seems the kid had taken a "stress test" as they call it here about a month ago and they had been flooding her with mail and phone contacts. We told her they had to stop if she requested it and then out pops Rev. Buttnor at that moment. Artemis asked him to help her out and she went in to the org with him. I spoke with her later and she had a lot of choice words to say about Rev. Buttnor and the Co$. I advised her to send a written complaint to the AGO about the Co$ doing a "stress test" on a 15 year old kid without parental permission. She thought that a fine idea and said she would alos write her MP, MPP and the Mayor.

I will have to give Notice next time that we will be giving out Flyers across the street too. There is a large theatre there. Live theatre. Not off broadway but I believe it was a revival of something British and amusing. Anyway, at one point a half dozen big greyhound buses stopped and let off about 150 to 200 seniors going to the matinee. They ended up lined up outside and were very interested in the activity in front of the Co$. One gentleman came across to me and took a flyer. A few minutes later he was back and asked for a couple of dozen, which he then gave out amongst his fellow theatre goers.

The six of us, myself, D'Artangnan, Artemis, Jim DeGris, Miss U and the ever so well behaved Duke of Gloucester had a successful afternoon except for a disgusting rude display by the Sea Orger during the last hour.

At about 4 pm the Constables waved me over and said they had to go and do crowd control at a terrible fire over on Jarvis (I think). They said that if anything developed just dial 911. (They knew I had a cell phone on my belt.) And off they went.

Sure enough, about 15 minutes later the Sea Orger at the south end notices Miss U and Duke at the North end handing out the DEPs. He saw she was a new face and wanted to take her picture. (He'd already done the same to Jim DeGris.) Miss U did not want her photo taken and said so loudly to him when he tried and she blocked her face with a DEP. Well, this Sea Orger photoclam circled about repeatedly attempting to photo Miss U. What a rude bastard!( Once notice is given a photo is not granted he should desist or face possible harassment charges.) Artemis and Jim DeGris moved in and shielded Miss U with signs and pamphlets.

But this idiot Sea Orger *still* persisted.(Duh)

Now the actions of Artemis and Jim were attracting attention from the passersby some of whom stopped to gawk.

That is when I started to barrage the crowd about this stupid Sea Orger with TONE 40s "LOOK AT SCIENTOLOGY IN ACTION! SEE THAT MAN TRY TO IMPOSE HIS WILL ON THIS DEMONSTRATOR! SEE SCIENTOLOGY IN ACTION - INTIMIDATION! WHY DOES HE WANT HER PICTURE? THE SICK REASON IS HE WANTS TO INTIMIDATE HER AND INVESTIGATE HER FOR EXPRESSING HER FREEDOMS. SCIENTOLOGY DOES NOT THINK ORDINARY FOLK SHOULD HAVE *ANY* RIGHTS." etc.

A small crowd gathered and started to make unappreciative comments to the Sea Orger, who <click><BANG!> ignored them and me and kept on trying to get Miss U on film.

I finally let loose with a Royal Regiment of Canada ParadeGroundCommand (tone 40 at about 4 times volume) to "STOP ACTING SO OPENLY LIKE THE RUDE FASCIST THAT YOU ARE AND BACK OFF. YOU'RE PERVERTED ATTENTIONS ARE NOT WANTED AND YOU ARE INTERFERING WITH A LAWFUL DEMONSTRATION."

The crowd of gawkers quckly grew to about 20-30 bystanders, some of whom were getting quite ugly in low voiced remarks about this stupid F. I decided that enough was enough and I suggested to Artemis to escort our Miss U and Duke off the site. Sea Orger started to follow but stopped when I told him quite forcefully " I WILL DIAL 911 IF YOU FOLLOW HER. THE COPS LEFT AND YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE. THEY WILL NOT APPRECIATE IT."

At this point as the crowd broke up (all now holding copies of the RXS or the DEP or both) Rev. Buttnor emerged from the org and urgently waved Sea Orger over. They talked briefly and Sea Orger went back to his spot south of our south end.

We finshed the last bit of the demo with just four of us but it did not matter as we still had total control. Almost from the outset the Org abandoning the field to us except for a few feeble attempts from doorway of org and the one 5 minute SeaOrger stupidity which I think we made good use of in showing up the CoS SO for what it is: SS.

Miss U told me later that she was not frightened or scared or even annoyed. She had decided to see what the SOB would do and things just went. And she is not put off picketing in the future.

We broke off the Demo at 5 pm on the dot. There was a lame attempt by the Sea Orger to tail us and an equally lame attempt by us to shake him, which worked!

All in all I believe it was a very good afternoon. The new DYIN'ETHICS Pamphlet was a smashing success, and we had dozens of verbal encouragements, at least four honking car acks uncountable thumbs up car acks and many bicyclist acks.

I'll try to web this with photos asap and announce that here on ARS.

We will try to improve as we go along and keep increasing our Demonstrator Ranks.

Thanks to all who came out, it was appreciated. And to all those who dropped by with words of encouragement and a promise to join us next time: Thank you too and you will be welcome to join us.

Just a few thoughts on Picketting tho'.

This isn't a sport.

For all the laughter and smiles and bravado I show out there, I am scared. I am not afraid to admit to being fearful and letting others know it. This is a serious thing we do Picketing, however that we do do it in a cheerful way. And being fearful doesn't deter me, it just makes me take precautions and keep organised. The advantage of being fearful is it motivates you to overcome the cause of that fear. I could do that by stopping picketing or by picketing until there is nothing left *to* picket. I know which course is harder emotionally but easier morally. And that is the course I chose to take.

And for those CoS sympathizers and shills who snipe from time to time who will accuse me of being a bigot I would like to parphrase Paul:

"I see absolutely nothing wrong in pointing out the fact that Scientology does not tell the truth; that Scientology management engages in unethical and sometimes illegal activities; that some of the practices of Scientology are potentially harmful; that the founder of Scientology did not tell the truth about himself, his record, or his education; and that Scientology has *never* provided *any* evidence that *any* of its technology works."

Be seeing you on Yonge!