Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
[A scene from the 2023 protest]
Scientology is scheduled this evening to begin its annual three-night gala to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of its membership organization, the International Association of Scientologists.
This is the 41st anniversary for the IAS, and the third gala since church leader David Miscavige brought back the event in 2023 after a hiatus during the pandemic. And it will also be the third year in a row that the two or three thousand attendees arriving at Scientology’s UK headquarters at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England, will have to drive past a group of protesters, led by former London staffer Alex Barnes-Ross.
Alex’s group is not large in size, but it’s well organized and they bring professional-looking signage. Alex tells us he does his best to make sure the message of his protest is a sympathetic one: He wants Scientologists to face the abuses inside the organization, and to consider that there is support for them if they decide to leave.
Today’s protest will probably feature only a couple of dozen determined activists and their signs. But for some reason, Miscavige is extremely perturbed by it, judging by the extreme efforts Scientology has made in the past couple of years to make it difficult for Alex and his group to find a piece of ground to stand on.
This year, the church had some last-minute surprises not only regarding the ground under Alex’s feet, but also the legal ground for his right to be there.
He told us earlier this week that he’d received a cease and desist letter from the church threatening legal action, but he replied to it saying that he knows he’s on solid legal ground for the protests.
READ MORE
tonyortega.substack.com
Excerpt:
 |
Scientology is scheduled this evening to begin its annual three-night gala to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of its membership organization, the International Association of Scientologists.
This is the 41st anniversary for the IAS, and the third gala since church leader David Miscavige brought back the event in 2023 after a hiatus during the pandemic. And it will also be the third year in a row that the two or three thousand attendees arriving at Scientology’s UK headquarters at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England, will have to drive past a group of protesters, led by former London staffer Alex Barnes-Ross.
Alex’s group is not large in size, but it’s well organized and they bring professional-looking signage. Alex tells us he does his best to make sure the message of his protest is a sympathetic one: He wants Scientologists to face the abuses inside the organization, and to consider that there is support for them if they decide to leave.
Today’s protest will probably feature only a couple of dozen determined activists and their signs. But for some reason, Miscavige is extremely perturbed by it, judging by the extreme efforts Scientology has made in the past couple of years to make it difficult for Alex and his group to find a piece of ground to stand on.
This year, the church had some last-minute surprises not only regarding the ground under Alex’s feet, but also the legal ground for his right to be there.
He told us earlier this week that he’d received a cease and desist letter from the church threatening legal action, but he replied to it saying that he knows he’s on solid legal ground for the protests.
READ MORE
IAS gala starts tonight: Scientology throws last-minute hurdles at protesters
Scientology is scheduled this evening to begin its annual three-night gala to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of its membership organization, the International Association of Scientologists.
tonyortega.substack.com
