INFAMY! II
A LOUD BRAWL!

Picketing the Church of Scientology© since May 10, 1997, for Objectionable Management Practises.

PROLOGUE:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Monday September 8, 1997.

For Monday September 8, the actual 30th Anniversary of Scientology in Canada, Artemis and I had decided to give the Co$ a surprise reprise of Saturday September 6th INFAMY! Picket, for at least one hour.
We were prepared for stiff oppostion - -and we got it!

Toronto Picket #7:
INFAMY! II - A 'LOUD' BRAWL!

We had hoped to throw all and sundry at the Toronto Org for a loop by pulling a third Picket in 7 days and we certainly did.

Artemis and I arrived a little early and parked ourselves in the shade of a tree just up the side street opposite the org. We have become familiar faces to the locals and as we waited we had many enquiries along the lines of " Good for you! Going to show'em again?! Good'o!" Etc. Inevitably people asked us for flyers and in a mere few minutes we had given out a half dozen to the locals.
At 1: 55 pm we decided to go over to the org and set up the banner as we had on Saturday last and then wait until 2 pm to start.

A Freelance Photographer supplied this shot of the Saturday Set up.

As we walked past the org I saw that once more it was totally empty. We set up the banner in moments and waited.
The foot traffic was slow but steady and just standing there we began to get acks from more locals.

At 2pm the org still was unaware of our presence, but not for long. I stretched out the "30 YEARS OF INFAMY!" banner and started on my Criminally Convicted 'Church' harangue. I had the M-Phone at #2, the lowest operative setting. ( #1 is simply the 'on' position.) Artemis was carrying the UFO Cult/Criminally Convicted Church picket sign.

We began to give out flyers at a fair pace, nothing especially demanding.

The org stirred.

People jogged back and forth inside and soon a videocamera in the hands of 'Wimpy the SeaOgre' appeared in the side window of the org. It was a difficult position for him. He was kind of squeezed between two bookshelves and leaning on a chair with one knee. Most awkward.

Artemis deserves some *real* kudos for today as he handed out *all* of our flyers and pamphlets: some 400 plus to about 300 people.

Between 2 pm and 3: 15 Artemis went through about 90 Court Opinions coupled to RXSpecials.

The counter-picketing was lame and a fair number of the CoS propaganda was hitting the sidewalk. Our stuff was either carefully read asap or folded and tucked into pockets, purses or stuffed in shopping bags. The level of acks from an admittedly slow but steady crowd was outstanding.

At about 2:30 a Bicycle Cop came by and stopped to talk to us. I think he was a black cop, I can't remember at the moment, such distinctions are often meaningless to me. Anyway, he just kinda passed the time of day. He did glance at my stoic friend: the ONEWAY DO NOT ENTER post and noticed the Tywraps attaching the other Banner pole. He gave me a raised eyebrow and I said I had clippers. He smiled and then asked how long we would be doing our Demo. I told him we were going to go at least to three and then break for an hour and given that it was such a fine day we would do at least one more hour from 4 to 5.
He nodded and then reminded me to call 52 division if any problems developed.
Then he left.

And *that* is when it started.

Artemis was just telling me that Buttnor had sailed on by and gone into the org when the 'New Slant' sound track began on the external speaker. The volume was quite reasonable and I felt no need to adjust my volume.

Artemis and I continued until about 3:15 and called a break when he ran out of Court Opinion flyers. We rolled up the banner and retired to the Artful Dodger to get some liquid refreshments. Artemis got a table and I took the Banner back to my vehicle. I had to shake a tail doing it tho'.

At 3:30 I rejoined Artemis at the Arful Dodger (great coffee folks) and we relaxed in the sun and just veged. At 3:50 Artemis says 'heads up' and I look up to see Buttnor and Wimpy walking past us returning to the Org.
It was obvious they had been on a sweep, looking for us. They gave each other nods and winks and smirked our way. They had caught us! We were doomed! {grin}

We paid our tab, and sauntered back over to the Org.

Buttnor was in the doorway, smirking. And the 'ANIMALLLLLL' track was on at 'earshatter'.

We started up again. I set my M-phone to #3 and began with my "$100,000 secret routine". The number of passersby was up. Artemis began going through a lot of flyers.
After about 15 minutes the Org took the sound to 'earthblast'. Half the track was so distorted it could not be understood.
It attracted a lot of attention of people. They looked annoyed.
I thumbed my mike to #4 and announced to the open Org door that they were interfering with a lawful Picket and I was going to call the cops.

I got smirks from the two OT3 LadyCosites they had outside counter littering, er leafletting.
I stepped up the sidestreet beside the Org a bit and called 52 Division. I explained the situation. They said that they would try to send someone about, but as long as it was just sound and 'rush hour ' was starting, it might be awhile if at all. Why didn't I just turn up the M-phone? I said I didn't want to disturb the local businesses. He said if enough complaints came in then absolutely *something* would be done.

Right.

I gave the idea of going up to #5 or #6 a passing thought and then decided to combine oratory with #4.

The Battle of the BabbleSpeakers was on.

....Continued