Anonymous protests Scientology

On February 10, 2008 the online community Anonymous staged a protest against the Church of Scientology. I took photos at the Hollywood protest. The entire event was peaceful, and no one even came close to getting arrested or causing any major problems. I got there about 20 minutes before any of Anonymous got there, so I got to see the church before any protesters got there. They had a lot of people wearing "security" jackets who were guarding every entrance to any church building. Many of them had either still or video cameras and were recording everyone. I interviewed one of the guards who was watching a vehicle entrance. He had a camera around his neck. "Is having a camera normal?" "Do you work for scientology?" "Is this your first day?" "Are you an outside contractor?" The answer to every question was no comment. At the end the "Media Relations" person came out and told me that no one was allowed to give interviews, the only statement the church had was the official statement that they were only giving to big media. As I was leaving them, a guy called out to me from his patio, so I went over to talk to him. I asked him the same questions, and he said that there was a lot of extra security today, and that cameras were definitely not normal. His main complaint was that the church was "making loud construction sounds at all hours, can't they build their space ship during the day?" From the start of the protest at the HQ to the end there were scientologists taking video and photos of everyone. Press included. In the past the church has used this intelligence info to discredit anyone who criticizes the church. This guy was clearly videotaping everyone to attempt to get an ID on people. I was across the street taking photos, and he specifically singled me out to get me on video. The people around him were trying to get him to crack his stoic demeanor, but he never even smiled. General photos: The next location was the Test Center at Hollywood and Vine. All 500 or so Anonymous members headed for the subway station, nearly everyone wearing masks. Most people on the packed subway car seemed amused at it though. The building was also guarded by the same security types. They were clearly there to protect the property, not to stop the protest or have any confrontation with anyone. The scientologists were again videotaping everyone. About 30 minutes in to a scientologist who apparently didn't get the "don't show up sunday" memo came by and yelled at the protestors. She was quite angry, and tried to taunt the crowd. Anon caught on pretty quickly and started chanting "Don't feed the troll", which really pissed her off. She started backing up into traffic until Anonymous warned her to be careful. Then she spit on one of the protestors (I believe that's legally considered battery) just before the Walk sign came on. She crossed the street to the scientology building where she kicked another protester. She made her way to the building and was let inside by security. Tory Christman (http://www.torymagoo.org/ has been a vocal critic of scientology for many years. Scientology is not amused: Anonymous

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