Scientologists feel the force
Masked demonstrators calling themselves ‘Anonymous’ gathered outside London’s Church of Scientology and the organisation’s Recruitment Centre recently to protest against the sect and highlight its ‘inherent flaws’.
Police said about 200 people took part in the peaceful protest in Queen Victoria Street and Tottenham Court Road. The protests were well co-ordinated, with similar gatherings taking place outside Scientology Centres across the UK and in Australia, Canada and the US.
In a video statement broadcast online, the organisers said: ‘The idea of Anonymous is to systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form’. A spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology called the protest group ‘cyber-terrorists’ motivated by ‘religious bigotry’.
The protests were held on 10 February to mark the birthday of Lisa McPherson, an American scientologist who died in 1995 while under the care of the organisation.
