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But it was two recent events that propelled the members of Anonymous to act. Sources told ABCNEWS.com that they were initially intrigued by the publication of Andrew Morton’s biography of Tom Cruise, which was highly critical of Scientology. That drew them to the Internet for more information where they came across the leak of several church videos on YouTube featuring Cruise’s wildly enthusiastic praise of Scientology.

After an embarrassing string of high-profile defection and leaked videos, Scientology is under attack from a faceless cabal of online activists. Has America’s most controversial religion finally met its match?
Clearwater is prepared for its enemies. It’s a warm, if overcast, Saturday in February, but all the storefronts lining the sidewalks of this sleepy town on […]

More than 20 local campaigners picketed the building on Saturday as part of a worldwide protest against Scientology.

One protester, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “The church has a strong history of litigation against any of its critics so we wear masks so they cannot identify us.”

Daniella Gibbs, 22, used to work in the Ebrington Street office, but left and joined the protesters.

She said she had got involved when she was 18 for a year because she believed she would get training as a counsellor.

She said she left after her working hours were extended to 86 hours a week, and she was encouraged to recruit new members.

Last month more than 7,000 Anonymous recruits picketed Scientology bases in 93 cities including London, Manchester and New York.

They were on the streets again yesterday, protesting outside recruitment centres around the world.

On Saturday, March 15, the surprisingly upstart, leaderless movement known as “Anonymous” will be holding its second worldwide anti-Scientology protests at Hubbard sites in more than a dozen countries.

The grassroots, Internet-based group seemed to materialize out of thin air just a few weeks ago, and it’s difficult to tell whether the surprising success of its February 10 rallies - which were held from Oslo to Sydney - will spark even more rallies beyond this weekend. The February protests featured a lot of twentysomethings, for the most part, carrying anti-Scientology signs, and wearing masks to protect their anonymity (Guy Fawkes masks were popular) in places like New York, Boston, London, and Toronto. This time, they say, they’re bringing cake and candles.

Globally, the Narconon network has run into problems in several countries in the past. In 1988 in Madrid, Spain, 11 members of the Church of Scientology were arrested, according to the St. Petersburg Times, and a local judge decried how Narconon swindled its clients and lured them toward Scientology. In 2003, the state of Oklahoma in the United States narrowly voted down a resolution honouring the work of Narconon Arrowhead, reported the Tulsa World. Last year, the United Kingdom’s prison systems ombudsman recommended Narconon not to be allowed in jails due to its connection to Scientology, reported the Sunday Times.

I was skimming through High Winds when I came across an article winningly headlined ‘Handling Suppression on the Fourth Dynamic’ (by then I had learnt that the ‘fourth dynamic’ meant the whole of mankind). In a tone of unforgiving militancy, it talked of ‘eradicating SPs’, and crowed about how they had ’shut down’ one particular defector who had criticised the movement. ‘Unemployed and abandoned by his family, this squirrel had schemed to make money by hawking his lies in a book. But the Office of Special Affairs had a court declare his book libellous. He has now been forced into bankruptcy…’

Protesters have rallied outside the Church of Scientology in Plymouth city centre to campaign against the cult’s presence in the city.

A dozen protesters, with masked faces, gathered outside the church in Ebrington Street on Sunday.

Scientology, practised by celebrities including Tom Cruise, has been the subject of much criticism in the UK over the past few years.

Now a protest group, called Anonymous, is campaigning against its presence in the city.

Speaking outside the church, one protester said: “We are not here to protest against anyone’s beliefs, just the practices of Scientology. We believe they work like a cult, preying on the weak and separating people from their families.”

Masked demonstrators gathered outside London’s Church of Scientology in protest against the organisation.

The group, called Anonymous, said they wanted to highlight the organisation’s “inherent flaws” and “fight for freedom of knowledge and information”.