Teen battles City of London cops over anti-Scientology placard

Another reason why I cry when I see the British Flag

Britian use to make me proud for the way it led the way to freedom for the masses. But with the New Labour, Conservatives, and other parties the freedoms that once made Britian great are just being used for the upper class.

As the saying goes if you don't learn from history you are doomed to repeat it.

I am not extreme but if society keeps going in the direction it is currently taking one fo two things will happen. The lowly people, ones who work for a living will have no rights including things like privacy. OR you will end up with a bloody revolt as has happened in a lot of countries multiple times around the world throughout history.

Long Live Guy Fawkes.

England wins.

As much flak as we Americans deservedly get for being the arrogant, bigoted, ignorant, warlike xenophobes we are, I take some small solace that at least we still (for the moment) retain the right to call a cult a cult. I am embarrassed and saddened that our friends in England do not.

Seriously. Being the bastion of fascist corruption and general douchebaggery in the Western World is our job. What are you playing at, trying to restrict the freedoms we haven’t gotten to yet?

the guy should be very afraid

They'll be stalking him now and trying to get his family to disown him. Either that or brainwash him into joining. Then again, they won't get much money out of a student, so probably not! ;-)

I passed their place in London a while back and some of their representatives tried to talk to me (I assume to recruit me). I really wanted to tell them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine, but I feared they'd follow me.

What's more scary though is the big names who really do seem to have fallen for the scam. Either that or Cruise et al are the biggest scammers out there.

Complain in force!

What we really need to do is complain to the people that matters, our local MP's. I'm sure El Reg has readers from every constituency in the UK and if they were to email their MP with their outrage at the Police prohibiting freedom of speech for a recognised and aknowledged cult, then maybe the MP's will do something about it? Maybe earn their wage for a change.

Contact your MP, you can find the contact details of your local MP here:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_4018047

I'm sure as hell going to email mine venting my disgust at the treatment of protesters to their a) freedom of speech and b) their freedom to protest.

And again Scientology shoots itself in the foot

so far all the legal action stemming from Anonymous' protests has either backfired or exposed them to potentially greater embarrassment. Nice to see them doing the protester's work for them

CPS

The plod said: 'Following advice from the Crown Prosecution Service some demonstrators were warned verbally and in writing that their signs breached section five of the Public Order Act 1986.'

Incredible, the CPS can make a judgement on that in minutes; yet 6 months ago one of my neighbours was racially abused in front of witnesses. We brought a complaint to the police who took statements and referred it on to the CPS - they still haven't come to a conclusion whether or not there will be a prosecution.

Guess we should have let Xenu into our lives to guarantee swift justice.

That young lad...

... is my new hero. With more like him there could yet be hope.

Fail anon is fail.

Seriously.

Anon has failed.

Should work both ways then ...

"but we have to balance that with the rights of all sections of the community not to be alarmed, distressed or harassed as a result of others' actions."

Proper balance would be to insist that the scientologists should be forced to restrict their campaigns to places where non-scientologists are unlikely to be.

ie -- henceforth, they must campaign only *inside* their own headquarters.

Cult inside

A la intel logo

On T Shirts - Line up on the wall.

Get a projector on it too :)

I've been saying for a while that 1984 was "just around the corner" and while I think that a complete 1984 scenario is a way off there doesn't seem to be much stopping it.

charge the copper!

Is it just me or would those written warnings definitely come under 'any writing' and almost certainly could be considered to cause alarm and/or distress?

Then again, if the coppers involved read this they could be quite alarmed by the possibilities, I'd better go into hiding fast.

AC, cos ya never know...

@Joe Carter

Funny you should say that, I seem to recall a particularly nice band t-shirt (cradle of filth?) with 'Jesus is a cu*t' printed clearly on the back. Apparently the t-shirt is now banned and at least one person got nicked for wearing it - 80 hours community service for a t-shirt... gits.

Its a fine line

Lets face it, all religions are pretty bonkers, and its a fine line between church and cult. Personally I'm not bothered if these guys want to gather in their basements and play with their toy spaceships or whatever. Mostly they should be pitied not derided. What I do object to is the fascist plods looking for any excuse to throw their weight around - in this case picking on some poor kid who is actually tying to do some good rather than mugging old ladies or smoking crack. The trouble with the plods today is that so many women and ethnic minorities have been fast track promoted beyond their ability and lack the brain power and common sense of your average 10 year old. Who do they think they are? Where is the spirit of 1968 when its needed?

UNBELIEVABLE

Just unbelievable.

Are anagrams actionable?

ye snot logic = cloudy bolt

E-,mail Boris

mayor@london.gov.uk

"You may or may not be aware of the monthly demonstrations by the "Anonymous" group against the behaviour of the "Church" of Scientology. CoS has a large office premises in the Square Mile area.

I recently saw a similar demonstration in Birmingham and it was good natured even if they consider CoS to be less than honourable and a threat to peoples' lives.

I was therefore disturbed to read that in London, free speech at these demonstrations is now being obliterated by City Of London police.

[[Quote snippets from El Reg report]]

The report goes on to include bland statements from City of London Police and City of London Chief Superintendent Rob Bastable.

Am I mistaken in my belief that the right to protest peacefully is one all British citizens have?

There are numerous mentions of the word "cult" in Justice Latey's judgement. One statement in particular stands out for me and I quote it here:

"The evidence is clear and conclusive: Mr. Hubbard is a charlatan and worse as are his wife Mary Sue Hubbard (she has been convicted of criminal offences in the United States in connection with Scientology and imprisoned) and the clique at the top privy to the Cult's activities."

Given that the teenager concerned was acting within the law as I understand it and was invoking not his own opinion but that of a learned Judge, how can the actions of City Of London Police be tolerated?

I would urge you to exercise whatever influence you have to highlight this attack on the right to peacefully protest, ensure the summons is withdrawn and that a full apology is forthcoming to the teenager concerned from City Of London Police.

In this case I have to say that the policewoman concerned and the Chief Superintendent do neither credit to London nor the Police.

Please ensure that the right thing is done and that respect for freedom to peacefully protest and to quote learned judges is restored."

Maybe the Police person misread the sign, saw CU and T and bad programming did the rest. My grandfather was always less than complimentary about the reading and writing skills of the local force.

At least they're paying for El Reg

Paid adverts from the Church of Scientology are appearing in the Google Ads boxes too:

Scientology:Get The Facts

Learn About Scientology On YouTube. Growing at an incredible rate.

YouTube.com/ChurchOfScientology

Now if all readers click on these, it'll cost the Scientologists wonga, which will be transferred into El Reg's beer fund. I can't see the downside to that. :)

Paris Hilton, because even she would appreciate the logic.

Be afraid, very afraid....

Good grief, every time someone does something to expose this nasty cockroach of a cult, ten more objectionable things come to light.

For example, now the people of the UK are not allowed to use simple verbiage to protest. I suspect I'm not the only one to feel outrage that the City of London Police and CPS have acted in this manner. They should be both ashamed and apologetic for their role in this little drama. Instead they are using their own rather offensive weasel words to defend their jackboot policing of a peaceful demonstration.

When did the City of London police become the private security firm of the Fans of Hubbard? When did the CPS lose it's backbone and back the storm-troopery? Pathetic.

Oh, but the cherry on the icing on the top layer of the super rich cake is the wording of the Public Order Act 1986. As reported in the story is says....

"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"

Oh, that's great that is. I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised since this was passed by the Thatcher government. One of Douglas Hurd's presents to society I think. The wording is so vague as to be virtually impossible to obey. Since the judgment of who is likely to be alarmed, distressed or harassed is somewhat subjective - as is the definition of threatening, abusive or insulting, this act seems to be a license to arrest whoever the hell they please. Time to be afraid folks.

I would guess that according to the Public Order Act of 1986 any protest against literally anything or anyone where the protesters do anything other than gather silently without signs would be an offense under the act. What are protesters supposed to do under that act? throw flowers? Oh, wait I'm guessing they'd be guilty of littering. Perhaps if the flowers were particularly pungent or had a lot of pollen that irritated the nasal passages of the target of the protest, they might even be charged under the public order act. I'm quite sure that the way that act is phrased that unless there are a hell of a lot of really clearly drawn exclusions any political demo would fall foul of the act as well. After all the slogans of protest are pretty well bound to fall under that vague definition of threatening, insulting, alarming or whatever.

Let me know when the UK recovers it's status as a free country, in the mean time mines the big orange jumpsuit.

You gotta feel sorry for the vulnerable in this life

Apparently, it really pisses off the Hubbardistas when their way-dodgy modus operandi is exposed to the rational.

http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology_collected_Operating_Thetan_documents

You couldn't make it up. Well, actually you could - Ron Hubbard did just that.

Religion my @rse.

Careful

I would like to warn anyone who calls the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster a cult they will be dealt with in the same manner.

Sheesh, I hope Xenu is real, and he get's my letter asking for a lift to a better planet.

Paris, cause she would never join a cult.

@ Flashmob to spell CULT - probably not illegal..

cultiget ftw - this also has the advantage of being visible to the people inside the building (including the nice man who stands on the roof throughout protests), but not those standing on the street, such as the police...

What probably happened

What probably happened was that there was an application to hold the protest. The City Police took some advice in advance and someone at the CPS suggested that the Hubbardites would claim to be alarmed and distressed by the use of the word cult.

In theory it is the law that's wrong here not the police.

In theory because they can of course choose not to enforce a law (cannabis law for example - it was Lambeth's police that first chose to not arrest for minor possession which lead to the declassification, although the City Police decided they were going to ignore ACPO's line when it was first declassified and arrest people anyway ...).

So, it comes down to whether using the word cult distresses the Hubbardites. If the Hubbardites have already told the City Police they find this distressing then the situation becomes tricky.

Abolish or alter the law and the problem goes away. There is case law (or was a few years ago) that meant a woman was prosecuted under the same (or similar) legislation for burning a US flag outside one of the nuclear bases in front of an American in a car.

The judge decided (on the basis of the legislation) that her appeal would fail as her actions were distressing to the USian even though such behaviour would be lawful in the states (although I'd love to see someone try it, especially these days).

To hear that the City Police were wined and dined by the Hubbardites surprises me not one bit. If someone were to make a Freedom of Information Act request asking to see how much money had been spunked on jollies erm I mean conferences and seminars (check out the hotel accommodation for the senior officers during these jollies - in the City, where they "work" every day) over the past five years then they'd get an interesting read.

AC 'cause it aint just the Hubbardites who can wreak revenge on people they don't like!

hmmm

Hmmm , my local cult branch office of Co$ is selling up it's heavily exposed city office after several street protests and moving in behind high walls to a former Catholic Convent in a leafy so called up market suburb in order to hide it's evil activities away from the general public !

I pity the poor neighbours in the entire street , they will now hound them mercilessly day and night with absolute impunity , and infest it's local council with their usual zeal of "peter principle adherents" at every angle with people who have no brains but make a good slave class that usually follow this kind of silliness that allows some one else to do their thinking for them ! Undoubtedly after that quiet not so subtle takeover has been done , no permits for any kind of protest in that borough unless pro Co$ will be issued again !

As for the sign , it shows that UK cops are now virtually on track to become virtual evil twin clones of the Cheka/NKVD from the bad old days of Joe Stalin now that they can murder innocent civilians where they stand or sit with impunity and immunity from the highest levels in the name of protecting the people from the improbable unreal events of their self creation ! So the question arises when is the UK going to start building Gulags and create the same secret list of people to be detained as known terrorists(i.e. AKA all prominent vocal democracy and freedom supporters) in these camps as per the DC chimp merkins created one in January 2001 , in the former Naval and Air Bases that dot the countryside south of Hadrian's Wall ?

Quoting Justice Latey

IIRC people were told that they could quote Justice Latey on signs as long as the attribution was the same size as the quote used. (Basically so that people could see that it was a quote)

Pirate.... All aboard the Freewinds for your free blue-asbestos induced cancer.

Not the Police's fault

I'd just like to reiterate what's been said - the man probably did break the law because the the law is so very wide - I suspect he did cause "distress" to the CoS. Fortunately for this man, common sense prevailed in this case. Unfortunately it also shows that the legislation is "working", rather than being an immoral abuse of power.

Its the fault of lazy politicians who want to bend the law using political pressure. The law catches everyone and then informal pressure is applied to pick up those the politicos want or the newspapers scream about. Just like all the GWOT legislation.

Don't blame the police, vote for someone else. If you don't punish politicians for their behaviour they'll carry on. Also examine legislation going through parliament ("Today in Parliament" on R4 is a good overview that isn't difficult to digest) and tell your MPs in a hand written letter you'll vote against them if they are doing something you don't like.

As for the CoS, anyone who charges for information is running a business. The difference between a cult or religion is irrelevant here. Technically there is great similarity between the two, although I suspect the common distinction is that a cult in effect ascribes the highest authority/loyalty to someone not deemed to be God.

Now, I'm off to Rome for a meeting. Mine's the red one.

Ahh scientology

Doing what the Cult does best.

Making Enemies at every turn.

CULT

CULT

telling the truth is illegal?

bad show..

Never mind

Rumour has it that "Does the City of London Police support a CULT ?" is going to be a popular placard on June 14th when the next protest happens.

As will

"'Scientology is a CULT' - Justice Latey 1984"

"City of London Police say I can't call Scientology a CULT"

"Religious Hatred Act says I can call Scientology a CULT (Section 29J)"

Anyone who fancies protesting a nasty, brainwashing CULT on June 14th should hae a look at http://www.londonlulz.com

Strategies against Interdimensional Architects

For the student: little worries, it will take time but this will be thrown out of court and a justice will speak sternly of the police while apologizing to the student. [FFS, it's the plods that should apologize, not the justice dept.]

For next time, maybe spread the message over several independent signs --- "Scientology" "is a fuckin" "g cult" comes to mind --- and thus escape. This not only helps evade, but also increases sign-size a lot.

You could even prepare several statements, but planning ahead and training (and having a few different extra signs in reserve). Extra cunningly, train in a few silly or ungrammatical nonstatements, to claim any message is "accidental, and probably caused by a god displeased with the cult of xenu".

For those with time on their hands, go look stressed at the scientologists' little desk, that appear about every saturday just north of the square mile [Islington Angel: 100yards from the tube, opposite side, just before the split of Upper Street and .. eh, is it Essex Street?]. They are always sitting there with their "are you stressed" free test, and dianetics books (but no interdimensional aliens, natch -- that might convince me).

Culting hell!

Not a single CoS shill to be seen yet. Come on guys, you're slacking off in your Culting duties. Get with it and come Cult us up fun time!

@Your honour, what is this scientology you're talking about?

I was thinking along similar lines - either:

Scientology is a clut

or

Scientology is a cnut

Hell, if the tossers at FCUK (French Connection UK) can get away with it...

Paris icon: make love not Scientology.