March 15th, 2008

On February 10th, 2008 over 7,600 people attended informational pickets in front of 108 Church of Scientology locations across 17 countries. It was the largest protest for the Church of Scientology ever. Until March 15th that is.

On March 15th the numbers grew to over 8,000. London reported over 700, New York City 350, Sidney 150, Clearwater 250, LA 350 and the list goes on.

Called "Operation Party Hard" this protest was in celebration of L. Ron Hubbards birthday. All locations had cake and many had party hats and other festive touches.

Videos

Pictures

Atlanta, GA

Sadly I cannot report that there wasn't a single arrest this time, though it's not what you may think.

In Atlanta they once again had a full S.W.A.T. team in riot gear outside the CoS. Once again there was no sign of violence from the protesters, but after giving a rousing speech over a megaphone the police saw fit to detain 2 of the protesters (The video is below).

They were charged with Protesting without a permit (The funny thing here is they were told repeatedly that no permit was needed, and normally a missing permit would have just resulted in the police having the crowd disperse) and Causing offensive or hazardous conditions.

No one is quite sure what the second one is about. The police said it was for using the megaphone, but as the video shows another protester that was not detained was using it at one point.

If this wasn't bad enough the police then lined up motorcycles and pulled over every car that honked in support as they drove by. Thankfully the protesters were fast to make "Do not honk!" signs so some drivers were spared.

I'd like to direct anyone wondering if the tickets for honking were legal to this article regarding a court case where it was determined that honking your horn in support of something can be seen as an excessive of freedom of speech.

Even counting the trouble in Atlanta there was not a single violent incident around the world.

L.A.

As before many of the protesters, in fear of Fair Game, wore masks and covered their faces. In fact at every single location there was someone from the Church of Scientology taking pictures or filming the picketers.

The Church of Scientology in Los Angles however went the extra step to gave us a live action example of Fair Game.

A Scientologist in LA follows 2 protesters with signs revealing their real names addresses and phone numbers.

Luckily the 2 men did not like being asked how the CoS can carry those signs and claim that Fair Game is no longer used and they went away.

Summary

Overall it was a very successful day and we're very much looking forward to the next protest, April 12th.

April is "Operation Reconnect" where we will attempt to give the families who have been disconnected from Scientologist loved ones a voice. Sign up for the newsletter for more information as it comes in.

Please enjoy the videos and pictures below.

• • Atlanta
  • This video shows the 2 Anonymous protesters being detained.

• • Father
  • A father in Hollywood pleads with the Church of Scientology to let his son talk to him again.

• • A priest in D.C. speaks out against Scientology
  • A priest in D.C. speaks out against Scientology.

• • A video of the protest in Toronto.
  • A video of the protest in Toronto.