Picket Report, Gregg Hagglund
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From: Gregg
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Toronto Demo Report: Battlefield Toronto - Mum is the word!
Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 21:27:02 -0400
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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:
"It's interesting that Scientologists cannot seem to differentiate
between:
----individuals:
picketing an organization to voice their opinion on its behavior,
and
-----an organization:
picketing individuals for voicing their opinion."
-M.C.DiPietra
"Give'em hell son." the late M.G.Hagglund
This page was last updated on July 10, 2003.
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