London Scientology Protest (Tottenham Court Road)

pm63 · Mar 16, 2008

I was walking down Tottenham Court Road when I walked right into the London scientology protest, of which I was completely unaware of. Good job I took my camera. Some quick snaps:

The protesters, on one side of the road, with the CoS headquaters/store on the other. Police keep it under control:

The protesters:

A close up. Note "lol zenu" and "free caek" signs:

The CoS, complete with angry security guard:

"Can I get a photo?"

"Yeah, sure":

If anyone is interested in seeing the leaflet they were giving out, I'll take some readable pics and post it up (it says "copying encouraged").

68Whiskey · Mar 18, 2008

Nice pictures.

Epic win was accomplished on March 15th.

pm63 · Mar 22, 2008

Thanks for the reply.

Anyone else?

THORHAMMER · Mar 22, 2008

LOL XENU

my favorite sign...

Looks like it was interesting...

KOrmechea · Mar 25, 2008

So, is the Guy Fawkes mask the thing to wear to a London protest these days?

Do they plan on blowing the place up, or did they just watch/read too much V for Vendetta?

pm63 · Mar 25, 2008

They wear the masks because the CoS has been known to harrass, intimidate and attempt to professionally ruin its critics. At some protests where a few people didn't wear masks, there were CoS members filming and taking pictures.

I think they choose V because V fought against a suppressive, totalitarian regime that attempted to control people, akin to the CoS. I don't think they plan on blowing up anything.

SamSt · Mar 29, 2008

68Whiskey said:
Nice pictures.

Epic win was accomplished on March 15th.

Epic win will never be accomplished by a bunch of hormonal 15 year old parading the streets. /b/ sucks

68Whiskey · Mar 30, 2008

SamSt said:
Epic win will never be accomplished by a bunch of hormonal 15 year old parading the streets. /b/ sucks

You're a idiot. This was and has been a movement that has only been matched before. I actually have to say that around 95% of them are not even close to the age of 15 and your ignorance by saying that is amusing. It's not the protests that are making history, its the fact that 7,000+ people, who have never met in real life came together and protested peacefully with only two unlawful and unjustified arrests.

You, like most idiots on the internet ignore the symbolism of things, and put your own immature view into play.

Bull Goose · Mar 30, 2008

I'd like to know what the big idea with "protesting" Scientology is. Yeah, it is super weird, but it's an organization that people join voluntarily, and as far as I can tell it doesn't impose itself on anyone who doesn't initiate involvement with it. It is entirely different from an oppressive government or something where people have no choice whether they are impacted by it or not. And the Guy Fawkes masks do not help at all, they just make it look very juvenile, like a bunch of kids/people needing an excuse to get dressed up as their favourite movie character. Why not protest something that matters, like unjust war? You may be surprised to know that at some anti-war protests far more than 7000 strangers come together. This protesting Scientology is nothing revolutionary, except for the utter uselessness of it.

68Whiskey · Mar 30, 2008

Bull Goose said:
I'd like to know what the big idea with "protesting" Scientology is. Yeah, it is super weird, but it's an organization that people join voluntarily, and as far as I can tell it doesn't impose itself on anyone who doesn't initiate involvement with it. It is entirely different from an oppressive government or something where people have no choice whether they are impacted by it or not. And the Guy Fawkes masks do not help at all, they just make it look very juvenile, like a bunch of kids/people needing an excuse to get dressed up as their favourite movie character. Why not protest something that matters, like unjust war? You may be surprised to know that at some anti-war protests far more than 7000 strangers come together. This protesting Scientology is nothing revolutionary, except for the utter uselessness of it.

Of course it is; you made it clear in this post have no idea what you are talking about. They are not protesting the belief of scientologists, they are protesting the way Scientology is ran, which is unlike a religion and like a business. The masks are used to protect their identity from ILLEGAL harassment and private investigators. There is a group of people protesting Scientology that actually are doing it to have something done, and they are winning the fight. Scientology does not know what to do, they have filed litigations and they have been denied, and now Scientology is in the mist of losing its state tax exempt status in Texas.

Some would say calling any war unjust is ignorance, but I wont go there today.

Bull Goose · Mar 30, 2008

The point is, who cares if Scientology is run like a religion or a business? If people want to join it, they can join it, if they don't want to join it, they don't have to. What is it to you if someone wants to be a Scientologist? It's none of your concern, just like it's none of your concern if someone wants to be a Catholic or a Hindu.
And I would really, really, really like to hear the reason why calling any war unjust can be considered ignorance. Seriously.

KOrmechea · Mar 30, 2008

I think one of the issues with Scientology (based on limited research after my comment in the thread) is the "Fair Game" policy and its victims.

68Whiskey · Mar 30, 2008

Bull Goose said:
The point is, who cares if Scientology is run like a religion or a business? If people want to join it, they can join it, if they don't want to join it, they don't have to. What is it to you if someone wants to be a Scientologist? It's none of your concern, just like it's none of your concern if someone wants to be a Catholic or a Hindu.
And I would really, really, really like to hear the reason why calling any war unjust can be considered ignorance. Seriously.

It is my concern that they get to blanket a corporation as a religion, that is MY concern. If it was Microsoft or someone else offering religious services, it would be totally different. Everyone would be hounding Washington wanting to know what the hell was going on. The fact that they can rack in $300,000 dollars a person in SERVICES is ridiculous. Now if they offered it for free and their only source of income was from donations, I would not give a rats a** how they made their money and or how they spent it.

Why should I have to pay taxes when a group that only got their tax exempt status was by suing the IRS with 2,000 some odd lawsuits, and then signing a agreement that PAID THE IRS FOR THEIR TAX EXEMPT STATUS! It's F'ing BS, it shows how ignorant people are for ignoring it.

Iron Flatline · Mar 31, 2008

68Whiskey said:
You're a idiot. This was and has been a movement that has only been matched before. I actually have to say that around 95% of them are not even close to the age of 15 and your ignorance by saying that is amusing. It's not the protests that are making history, its the fact that 7,000+ people, who have never met in real life came together and protested peacefully with only two unlawful and unjustified arrests.

You, like most idiots on the internet ignore the symbolism of things, and put your own immature view into play.

68Whiskey, chill out. This is not a community where it is cool to call another member names. Please keep it respectful. Also, TPF is a part of the internet where we generally deal with one another like adults, and we also keep religion and politics to a minimum. We all have strong feelings and opinions about it, but this forum is about photography - there's plenty of other places for other topics.

Arch · Mar 31, 2008

^Exactly what Iron said... please resist any further arguement about the rights and wrongs of religion or war... take it to pm if you like, but here we just want to discuss the photos. Thanks.