Toronto Demo Report,
May 13, 2000
Highlights:
Change in Tactics adopted.
Demo relatively uneventful.
VideoTech helpful.
Duty Officer apparently enforces most laws rigorously.
Strange whining sounds heard in the morning.
Local Thug Peter Ramsay stays mostly at a distance.
Demonstrators:
AM: Dave Palter, Mike Argue, Kaeli, Chris Wood,
Gregg Hagglund, Ron Sharp. Still photos by Tom Cat.
Demo support and catering by GranFalloon.
PM: Mike Argue, Chris Wood, Gregg Hagglund, Ron Sharp.
Flyer Count: Wulfen Specials =100
Roland Xenus = 350
Toronto, May 13, 2000.
The day dawned rather gray and foreboding as the last wave of thunder clouds lingered over the Toronto area for the morning, before departing eastwards. The overnight deluge was a record rainfall and had caused flooding in many lower areas and along major inner city rivers.
We met at the Starbucks as usual. Local OSA thug Peter Ramsay was not present to ambush me or intimidate me where I park my car. [He later approached me and said he would "get me next time".] Chris Wood joined us for this Demo as he was in town on business. Alan Barclay wouldn't be with us today as he was off on a secret mission, so Chris was a happy surprise.
We were also joined by Kaeli and her pal Tom Cat. Tom would be doing still photos throughout the morning. Kaeli and Tom would have to miss the afternoon session, but Kaeli was interested in mingling with the worst the Co$ has to offer, which is in the morning session.
Strategy Change:
As arranged at 10 AM I met with the Duty Officer of the day at the Country Style Donuts across from the Org. I gave him some legal information and the three year history of the Demos. We also gave him one half hour to relax and familiarize himself with the intelligence materials we provided him with. [I find this very ironic as Co$ has to pay a Police officer to do this.] We informed the Officer we would commence our activity at 10:30 AM.
Another alteration to our usual pattern of activity would be to *not* have a point person in the AM. The point person usually functions as 'the town crier' and I usually do this. On the advice of counsel involved in legal matters opposing the Co$ and at the urging of numerous ex-scns we had decided to do two things differently:
first, no 'Town Crier'; second, ignore the Co$ goon squads as much as was practical. [Not-IS them.] The first change might lower our overall flyer count but the first in combination with the second would make the possibility of clearly recording Goon Squad slanders for the lawyers.
The Morning:
Things were very odd for me this morning. The Goon Squad of OT3s and better had apparently made themselves **invisible to me**! I *really* didn't see much of the Co$ Goons and Goonettes all day. Just momentary glimpses when they committed acts of mischief, theft or attempted assault. I have consulted my audio and video tapes of the day and I do realise they *were* there fairly consistently, but I didn't really notice *at the time*.
We all began moving in a 40 long circle on the sidewalk in front of the Org. Kaeli and Mike Argue did some flyering. Dave Palter anchored the south end as he is not a great 'walker'. Ron Chris and I did the 'tour'. Now apparently some Co$ Goon or Goonettes latched on to each one of us for differing lengths of time, [MRCT--My Recordings Confirm This]. Pedestrian traffic was very sparse as usual and this morning virtually nonexistent as passersby tried to avoid the Orgs Clean the Sidewalk Tech.** I placed my sign on my shoulder so it would face vehicular traffic an walked all morning back and forth with only one break before lunch. Someone kept grabbing the handle of my sign and waggling it, so I mentioned this to the Police Officer and that ceased. Later still a thief tried to steal my Cel phone, dropped it and was forced to make a big show of giving it to the Police Officer. This same thief unsuccessfully tried to steal my on site copy of OT3 and this too was reported to the Police Officer. The Officer had apparently made it plain to the Goon Squad that swarming and blocking of Demonstrators would not be tolerated. Theft, public mischief, trespass upon demonstrators equipment, and intimidation of demonstrators would not be tolerated by this Officer. The gray area of public nuisance would be addressed on a case by case basis. Several times I was too closely followed or suddenly deliberately blocked by someone whom I unavoidably trampled upon. MRCT. People so trampled apparently complained to the Officer who told them they could avoid being stepped on by giving me more space to walk in. MRCT. The worst incident of the morning was an reckless bit of horseplay by someone named McCoy. He gave me a hip as I passed behind him on the street edge of the sidewalk. I was knocked off balance and into Yonge St. It took me three or four quick steps to recover my balance which put me in the centre of the first lane of traffic. I spoke to the Officer about this. He advised, since thug Peter Ramsay had been seen nearby, I should stay a little closer to where the Officer was positioned. I guess he felt it less likely I would be attacked by any Co$ madmen or fanatics if I were to stay within his direct line of sight.
** The cleaning activities resulted in a constantly wet sidewalk covered with soggy Co$ propaganda and Black PR packs. Also cars parked on the side street were covered with dirt and filth sprayed onto them by the inept use of a powerwasher.Someone running a power spray was washing dirt off the sidewalks and into the separation cracks, then hitting the dirt in the cracks with the power spray sending it airborne everywhere. This noisy operation continued all day in an area about 8 by 24. I have some hilarious video footage of some of this.
We adjourned for lunch at 1 PM.
The Afternoon:
We began again at a little after 2 pm. Initially only Mike Argue was doing direct flyering. Ron, Chris and I started off doing the circuit and flyering as we walked. Pedestrian traffic was heavy and steady. The sun was shining most of the time in a sparsely clouded sky. It was just breezy enough to be cool and hot enough to be comfortable. Apparently, no one dogged us or interfered with us in any substantial way for most of the afternoon. MRCT. Ron , Chris and I were began to have more and more flyers taken by interested passersby.
I gave out about one every two minutes on average for the first hour.
At about 3 PM I took up a stationary position near my usual Town Crier spot and began to flyer more consistently. Mike Argue positioned himself just opposite me at the same location. Someone was videotaping me all afternoon as I easily went through a spate of flyers ( 50+) at a steady pace. I had a few interesting conversations and corrected a few people who had subscribed to urban myths about scientology (like kidnapping people of the street). Since we were relying on our signs to inform passersby of our opposition to Co$ policies and procedures (instead of SP Town Crier Tech), there were a number of amusing double takes by pedestrians, who came back for one of our flyers after realizing we were in opposition to the Co$.
We called it a day just before 5 PM. I thanked the Officer for his vigilance and fair handed Policing. And we adjourned to the Artful Dodger for refreshments.
Epilog:
My audio and videotapes, upon examination revealed the following interesting tidbits: Dan calling me a "NAZI" and "a Member of the Nationalist Socialist Party " and "following in the footsteps of 1938". [ Ironic since I married into a family with many escapees and survivors of the Holocaust.] THE Harridan, whom I will now refer to as the Shrew, calling me degraded, ill, dying, afraid of women, and other more slanderous things. There is some nice video of the Shrew after she slammed into Mike Argue as he stood still flyering. The Shrew had been following me so intently, as shown on the tape, she failed to see Mike and walked right into him. The good footage shows her tired, worn and angry face after the Officer asked Mike not to stand still in the middle of the sidewalk and advised her to try not to be so intent on haranguing at me (which I didn't even notice) that she banged into people and things. Other footage catches Peter Ramsay at various moments and places staring intently at me throughout the morning and once as he passed by me quickly muttering he had been late today and would "get me next time". Audio only and audio/videotape both revealed the presence of the Goon Squad and their verbal attacks and whining at their lack of results. Dan was apathetic and the Shrew was, well, shrewish.
Conclusion:
Either the Goon Squad OT Powerz were able to cloud my mind and render them invisible to my senses at the time......
Or SP 'Not-Is' Tech really worked well....
.....What do *you* think?
In any event, ignoring the Goon Squad frustrated them tremendously as did our other strategy changes both at the demo and elsewhere.
I would say this was a fine 3rd Anniversary Demo.
For Newbies: Toronto hosts one of the most orderly, peaceful [at least from our end] and longest running demonstrations in Canadian history. My compatriots and I have been conducting peaceful monthly demonstrations at various locations for three consecutive years to oppose Scientology Managements deceptive marketing techniques, false product claims, lack of complete disclosure and often criminal activities and policies. We are part of international expression of dismay and disapproval with Scientology policies, procedures and contempt for democratic laws, which they call, with some disdain, 'wog laws'. Scientology was Criminally Convicted in Canada as a Corporation for two Breaches of the Public Trust. The policies and procedures used by the Co$ at that time are still in use today Gregg Hagglund SP7 Toronto and Canadian National Picket Reports now at:
<http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/8412/toronto/index.html>