Picketers (at various times): Me, Gregg, Android Cat, Mike Argue, David Palter, Kaeli (new face!), and Granfalloon with the pastry/drink resupply run.

Times: 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM (or so) to 5:00 PM.

Leaflets: 450 (conservative estimate but not by much), which included:

250 of Gregg's Xenu/Crimes.

200 of my leaflets, 100 of No Science/What Judges Say and 100 of LRH the Con Man/Human Cost of $cn.

(Get them at http://www.total.net/~wulfen/scn/leaflets.html ) My sign: "$cientology's Founder: Liar, Bigamist, Fraud Artist" on one side, and "$cientology: Raided, Convicted, Indicted" on the other.

Well, I'd been planning a visit to Toronto to picket for quite some time, and I finally got around to it. I didn't tell anyone I was coming, just showed up. It was quite a picket, and I'm only now over the blisters. Also, this was the third anniversary of the start of the Toronto pickets.

My picket day started off slightly late, hurrying up Yonge towards the org, and admiring the urban landscape (you just don't get urban landscape like that in the Maritimes). Then, I met Gregg, Mike, David, and Kaeli walking the other way. It turns out that Gregg had given the police officer a letter to read, so we weren't picketing until 10:30.

Grah.

After a short but suppressive interlude, with leaflets and signs distributed, we approached the org. Gregg and me introduced ourselves to the off-duty police officer (*ka-ching* from the cult's coffers), and then we started picketing.

As it turned out, the Toronto crowd and me were of the same mind. I was planning to ignore any harassing Scientologists, and that was the Toronto plan too. It worked out pretty well, I passed out more leaflets by myself than I ever have (100! I passed out 100 leaflets by myself! I'm so amazed), and the Scientologist handlers don't sound quite as deranged when I mentally file them in with the background traffic noise.

Anyway, you recall all that stuff from past Toronto pickets about how the local Scientologists keep harassing picketers? Well, they're still at it. Dan and that lady who did the "how many children have you killed" bit were at it in the morning. This must be what Scientology's TR drills are for - these two Scientologists followed picketers around while spouting the vilest Scientologese they could come up with.

Gregg, who is apparently Scientology's "who" in Toronto (as in, the person who Scientology thinks is responsible for the pickets) came in for the worst of it - the psychopathic lady and Dan together called him (metaphorically speaking) everything they could short of mass murderer. It's one thing to read about this on a.r.s., but quite another to see it in person. How much money did these Scientologists pay for superior OT abilities again?

Also, Dan didn't serve me with legal papers. I know this may seem a statement of the obvious - after all, at every other picket I've been at, Dan hasn't served me with legal papers. However, Dan did threaten me (through email) with a lawsuit for (among other things) having his picture on my "Wulfen website". Dan also demanded in this series of emails that I send him my home address. Gregg told me after this picket that at the April picket, Dan was saying how he would serve me the next time he saw me. Well, Dan was there all morning, and didn't mention his emails. He also didn't serve me (except with a good helping of theta bile). Does anybody else here think that if I gave Dan my address, I would not only *not* be sued, but I would have Scientologists turning up at my door? Sometimes the cult can be very transparent.

The other picket-handling thing the Scientologists did was to try and get picketers in trouble with the police officer. This went on all day, but I'll mention it here. First, there's the tried-and-failed-before trick of walking in front of the picketer, and then slowing down at unpredictable intervals, and then complaining when the picketer unavoidably steps on the Scientologist's ankle. The psychopathic lady tried to steal Gregg's copy of OT3 (again), but this time failed. She grabbed at Gregg's sign, until Gregg complained to the police officer. Then she stole Gregg's cell phone, taking it to a Scientologist by the police officer and saying that she found it on the ground. Gregg retrieved his cell phone, which fortunately was passworded so no Scientologist could see where he'd called. In the afternoon the worst incident happened. All I saw of it was that I turned around and saw Gregg in the road (which is not normal, Yonge Street on Saturday is busy at the best of times), and another Scientologist on the sidewalk with a fatuous grin on his face.

According to Gregg, this Scientologist had hip-checked him into the street. We're all damn lucky there wasn't a car coming. I'm sure you can imagine how this could have turned out. Needless to say, we all kept a careful eye on Gregg after this incident. As well, the lady tried to claim that Mike shoved her (uh, no).

Now, while this was going on, there was a Drug Free Marshals event going on too. The idea was to clean the sidewalk and pick up trash, thereby showing that Scientology isn't just about taking peoples' money and selling nothing but confidence in return (</sarcasm>). Also, the kids fixed up a planter around near the chapel area. This didn't work out well in parts - washing the sidewalk meant that when people threw away their Scientology leaflets they stuck to the ground. (This after a thunderstorm the day before that dumped a month's worth of water on the city.) Interestingly enough, when the children wandered back from their cleanup the Scientologists stopped their bull-baiting.

Imagine that, Scientologists don't want their children to hear how they handle picketers. I wonder why? Also, this flurry of DFM activity just emphasizes how dead the Toronto org is. If you pass by when picketers *aren't* there, it has all the life of Hubbard post-vistaril.

After lunch it was more of the same, with a change of Scientologist picket-handlers. Gregg was followed around by the guy who shoved him into the street, but the rest of us were left largely to our own suppressive devices. This is when we handed out the bulk of our leaflets - I went through about 60 in the afternoon.

The only really notable thing that I saw in the afternoon was when I stopped for a candy break. In the Dianetics Foundation (ie Franchise) window I saw a huge binder - the "Dianetics and Scientology Materials Sales Manual" (if I remember the title correctly). It had sections for every Scientology course you could think of (including a surprisingly large section for the OT levels). Then a Scientologist put herself between me and the window, so I couldn't see. As if I didn't already know that Scientology tries to profit from its members. Heh.

Anyway, the picket slowed down considerably after 3:00 - I was blistered all to heck, Gregg was not used to the walking (he usually stays in one spot and leaflets), and only a couple of picket handlers remained. When 5:00 hit, we limped off, and counted our empty leaflet envelopes. I also distributed some of Ted Mayett's Picket CD's - so if you're a Toronto picketer who didn't get one, get it from Gregg at the next picket.

Still looking for someone to picket with in Halifax...

-- Scientology's gate is down. -- http://www.total.net/~wulfen/scn/ http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/8412/

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