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Nearly 300 demonstrators jammed the sidewalks out front on March 15, many of them young computer geeks in plastic Guy Fawkes masks honoring the 16th-century British subversive. Some hid behind party masks and bandanas. They hoisted signs: “Religion is free, Scientology is not,” “They want your money and your sanity,” and, in a reference to a string of mysterious tragedies involving members of Scientology, “How many more must die?”

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.

Patry told The Chronicle last week he believes Narconon’s results speak for themselves. He did acknowledge he had never heard about any possible connection between Narconon and Scientology until questioned by the newspaper. While Patry and some other politicians have signed on to support Narconon, it seems they should have done more background research on this initiative. In the end, they may still have supported it, but at least they would have avoided any potential controversies.

“We were born. We grew up. We escaped.”

So reads the motto of ExScientologyKids.com, a website launched Thursday by three young women raised in the Church of Scientology who are speaking out against the religion. Their website accuses the church of physical abuse, denying some children a proper education and alienating members from family.

One of the women behind the site, Jenna Miscavige Hill, is the niece of David Miscavige, the head of the church, and Kendra Wiseman is the daughter of Bruce Wiseman, president of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a Scientology-sponsored organization opposed to the practice of psychiatry.

The church has been accused of being directly responsible for the financial ruin of some of its most fervently faithful, but Danos said getting started in Scientology is “extremely inexpensive.”

“You can go in and do something for 30 bucks,” she said. “The first book is 10 bucks.”

Woodcraft, though, warns that things get exponentially pricier once you reach the religion’s highest echelons, or if you try to quit.

“If you leave,” she said, “they send a bill for everything you’ve done.”

Woodcraft’s, which she still has a copy of, was $89,000. Modest compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars she said some people end up dropping just to rise up the ranks.

Mutchler, president of the Western Michigan chapter of the Michigan Psychiatric Society, had not heard about the event, but she has encountered pickets at conventions and once en route to a meeting in Atlanta listened to an anti-psychiatry rant by a cab driver who was a Scientologist.

“I had no idea people thought we did harm,” she said. “All I can do is go back to the research we have that shows it’s solid science.”

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.”

Dressed in black, sporting masks and handing out leaflets on a sunny Sunday morning, more than 30 people stand on an Edinburgh pavement protesting against the Church of Scientology in Scotland.
John is among them, a 29-year-old from Edinburgh who lifts up his grinning Guy Fawkes mask so he can explain why he’s standing with complete strangers on the city’s South Bridge with a flyer urging Scots not to “let a UFO cult take us back to the Middle Ages”.

One institution unable to provide an independent opinion on the subject is the not-for-profit Cult Awareness Network. Described in scientology literature as “the serpent of hatred, intolerance, violence and death”, it used to give advice in America about a number of sects and organisations. It went bankrupt after much litigation. Its name, telephone number and contact details were then purchased by a scientologist.