Channel 4 News - Anonymous news from around the world

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 […]

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?”

Luke Lirot, a First Amendment attorney in Clearwater who represented Lonsdale in 2006, said he was “deeply saddened” by the news of his death.

“He was a pretty energetic and driven individual,” Lirot said. “He was intelligent, and I thought he had a firm grasp on his constitutional rights. He was an outspoken critic of the Church of Scientology and had every right to do the things he did, I felt.

“I hope there is a very thorough investigation into the circumstances of his death.”

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”.

Anonymous, the new foe of Scientology, stepped out from the shadows of the Internet on Sunday with protests in Clearwater and around the world.

Some 200 marchers, mostly young people wearing sunglasses, hats and sometimes masks, met in downtown Clearwater to shout down Scientology at the church’s spiritual headquarters.

The Church of Scientology says a group that has been protesting against the church are religious bigots that are merely perpetrating religious hate crimes.

Sunday, members of a group called ‘Anonymous’ gathered outside the central Phoenix Church of Scientology to protest.

Protestors turned out in force yesterday to demonstrate at the Church of Scientology’s headquarters in London.

The demonstration - by a group of web users working under the name ‘Anonymous’ - was one of many which have been taking place across Europe, America and Australia.

‘Anonymous’ - which declared “war” on the organisation last month - claim to have staged demonstrations in almost 100 cities over the last 24 hours.

Despite frigid weather, 40 to 50 people - many concealing their identities with plastic masks, wigs and sunglasses - gathered in the South Side across from the Church of Scientology’s small Pittsburgh office yesterday afternoon, just as similar protests against the controversial religious movement were taking place in cities across the globe.

A new Scientology opponent has arisen in the last few weeks, composed of computer-savvy young people who accuse the church of stifling free speech.

The group calls itself Anonymous. Its shadowy presence is so far mostly manifest on the Internet in video addresses and endless message board correspondence.