Fifteen Year Old Boy is Scientologists' Latest Target
A fifteen year old boy carrying a placard describing Scientology as a “dangerous cult” (a phrase taken from a legal judgement about the organisation) has been issued with a summons at a demonstration organised by a group called “Anonymous”. Demonstrations were held outside Church of Scientology headquarters in London’s Queen Victoria Street and their recruitment centre on Tottenham Court Road on May 10.
When initially warned by police, the youth refused to change or take down the sign, citing freedom of speech. You can see the incident and the police response on Youtube. The video also contains a short interview with an American woman describing how the CoS attacked her when she protested against them. The boy’s own version of events and some responses to it here
The incident has caused widespread outrage and the Crown Prosecution Service has yet to decide whether it will bring charges under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, which appears to be being used as a new kind of blasphemy law. Convictions deemed to have been aggravated by religion carry a maximum prison sentence of seven years, although in practice penalties are much less severe.
The police are on record as having accepted hospitality from the Scientologists and the Chief Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police described them as a ‘force for good’ at the opening ceremony of the new HQ.
Back in February, following another demo by Anonymous, the CoS claimed religious persecution, saying: “Anonymous is perpetrating religious hate crimes against Churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry”. This is despite the fact that Scientology is not legally recognised as a religion in the UK. But according to one blog, the writer was told by the police that Scientology was being considered a religion for that day.
For more information about the activities of the CoS, the Xenu website is comprehensive.
See also:
Scientology makes a mockery of the law