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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.

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”.

A day of free speech protests have been planned outside Scientology centres around the world, with campaigners mobilising on Facebook and YouTube against the group.

Hackers are incensed at what they claim is a restriction on free speech by Scientologist by forcing YouTube to remove embarrassing footage of Tom Cruise talking about what ‘a blast’ the religion is.

Protesters are vowing to picket buildings in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and York on the British leg of the day of direct action, three weeks after a group of internet activists called Anonymous vowed to destroy the movement.

They said they were opposed to Scientologists’ “speech-suppression tactics”, which they claim include “frivolous” lawsuits and the use of copyright and trademark laws to silence free speech.

The controversial Scientology sect was accused of trying to inflitrate British politics last night after it emerged that they paid thousands of pounds to both the Labour and Tory parties.

Members of Labour’s ruling executive committee, on which Tony Blair sits, approved the payment from a charity which is closely linked to the Church of Scientology, which boasts Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its members.

Labour allowed the charity, the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), to pay between £3,500 and £13,500 for a stall at the party’s annual conference in Manchester.

Tory bosses also sanctioned a stand at their annual gathering in Bournemouth.

But MPs expressed concern after it emerged that they were part of an extensive lobbying operation by Scientology members to promote its drug treatment programme, Narconon, and the criminal rehabilitation scheme Criminon.

Labour allowed ABLE to exhibit despite concerns about Scientology and its offshoots.

The director of the Prison Service has said that Narconon is not a “validated programme” and has advised against its use as a treatment.

Drugs charity Addaction also opposes the programme saying it is “not scientifically sound”.

Labour confirmed that the decision to accept money from the Scientologists to exhibit was taken by a committee of the NEC. NEC members include Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and party chairman Hazel Blears.

A Labour Party conference spokesman said the money received was a business transaction and did not constitute a donation.

The Church of Scientology is pressing ahead with plans to convert a Trafford distillery into a “place of worship” for hundreds of followers.

The controversial group - whose celebrity members include Tom Cruise and John Travolta - bought the Grade II-listed building on Chester Road for a reported £3.6m.

Plans to convert it into a “place of worship and religious instruction” were withdrawn earlier this year when the Trafford council expressed concerns about parking. But the Church of Scientology is planning to submit new proposals.