British teen sued for calling Scientology a 'cult'

by cynthia yoo | May 20, 2008 at 01:36 pm

842 views | 8 Recommendations | 14 comments

A 15 year old teenager was served a summons by the London police for demonstrating outside a Scientology building in London.

Officers confiscated a placard with the word "cult" on it from the youth, who is under 18, and a case file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.
A date has not yet been set for him to appear in court.

The decision to issue the summons has angered human rights activists and support groups for the victims of cults.

The incident happened during a protest against the Church of Scientology on May 10. Demonstrators from the anti-Scientology group, Anonymous, who were outside the church's £23m headquarters near St Paul's cathedral, were banned by police from describing Scientology as a cult by police because it was "abusive and insulting".

Writing on an anti-Scientology website, the teenager facing court said: "I brought a sign to the May 10th protest that said: 'Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult.'

"'Within five minutes of arriving I was told by a member of the police that I was not allowed to use that word, and that the final decision would be made by the inspector."

A policewoman later read him section five of the Public Order Act and "strongly advised" him to remove the sign. The section prohibits signs which have representations or words which are threatening, abusive or insulting.

The teenager refused to back down, quoting a 1984 high court ruling from Mr Justice Latey, in which he described the Church of Scientology as a "cult" which was "corrupt, sinister and dangerous".

After the exchange, a policewoman handed him a court summons and removed his sign.

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

anoninmelbourne

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 21:29 on May 20th, 2008

These chilling effects definitely need more attention

SweetPeas

at 21:35 on May 20th, 2008

It wasn't shocking that this small sushi place had this sign up. They were right next door to the L. Ron Exhibit in Hollywood. We all laughed and shook our heads. For one reason, the place was closed anyways. And secondly, who wants sushi? Not us. Especially not then.

Thanks for using my photo. Much appreciated.

SweetPeas has contributed a photo to this story.

tourmedas

at 22:01 on May 20th, 2008

Considering all the media attention Scientology gets, it is a little frightening to realize how little we actually know about their workings. We find it amusing when powerful, but "crazy", celebrities are members but I don't find much amusing about the fact that some of the most powerful people on earth also belong to the church. I don't understand how Catholicism is recognized as anything other than a for-profit organization and the same goes for The Church of Scientology. They are very obviously in the business of making money and they need to have the same public accountability any other for-profit business has.

I took this shot while I was on my way to a restaurant in downtown Ottawa. I didn't know there was a rally going on but I felt I couldn't walk by without snapping a few photos.

tourmedas has contributed a photo to this story.

knightlymckay

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 22:07 on May 20th, 2008

cynthia yoo, I like this story. It's good stuff.

tourmedas

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 22:50 on May 20th, 2008

cynthia yoo, I like this story. It's good stuff.

bosoxphanatic

at 22:53 on May 20th, 2008

The folks at the protest in Minneapolis were actually some of the nicest people you could meet. They didn't yell or bother any pedestrians walking by them. They also really enjoyed having their picture taken.

Tanya N

at 01:22 on May 21st, 2008

Anonymous protest against Scientology - London - May 10th, 2008

Tanya N has contributed a photo to this story.

rasqual

at 04:51 on May 21st, 2008

For my part, I just went to:

https://secure.met.police.uk/yourvoicecounts/index.php

and told them "Scientology is a cult."

;-)

burly-nate

at 06:26 on May 21st, 2008

Austin, Tx. 5-10-2008

burly-nate has contributed a photo to this story.

JacobDavis

at 07:42 on May 21st, 2008

Hope no one minds additional commentary + win photo:

There were a few people at the Denver Church of Scientology protests, either Church members or hired private investigators, who followed protesters around during and after the protests, attempting to get video or still pictures of them without their masks. Some were followed to their cars, some to the train stations. Why would they want to know the faces of anonymous protesters?

The Church's written policies state, "ENEMY — SP [Suppressive Persons, anyone critical of the Church of Scientology] Order. Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed." (L. Ron Hubbard, founder of CoS, October 18 1967, Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, Issue IV, Penalties for Lower Conditions)

This "Fair Game" policy is one of the major points of the protests. Most people don't think it's a big deal, or that it even really occurs. If you're skeptical, I hope you will question why these people follow us with their cameras all the way to our cars.

I would also like to thanks the cult's goons, whose stalking and intimidation tactics validated every sign in the following photo:

See more in my Anonymous vs. Scientology collection.

www.COanon.org

constructo88

at 17:06 on May 21st, 2008

I would just like to point out that this photo was taken in San Francisco, California.

constructo88 has contributed a photo to this story.

Earl Z. Madness

at 08:39 on May 22nd, 2008

In the middle, between the two holding the smaller sign up is seen a free-zoner, a Scientologist operating outside of Scientology, who brough both this banner and two more along with an E-meter to the May 10th NYC Anonymous protest

-E.Z.M.-

Earl Z. Madness has contributed a photo to this story.

zidapi

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 19:57 on May 29th, 2008

Great story! Scary stuff though.

I've been following the movement since it began, and photographing at the raids since March.

We've been lucky down here in Australia, the members of Anon have had full police cooperation. They usually organize to have at least 2 officers with them at all times be it at the org, marching or handing out flyers.