EDINBURGH DEMONSTRATIONS

Pere Fornes

SquareOne News

Today Edinburgh saw over 1000 protesters participate in three separate demonstrations held across the city.

In the morning, about 50 people demonstrated against the Church of Scientology in Hunter Square. At the same time a pro-Beijing rally took place in which over 1,000 people demonstrated in favour of the Olympics and against the recent violence involving the Olympic torch.

But the most unusual demonstration took place in the afternoon. A rally in favour of US Presidential candidate Barack Obama was supposed to start outside the Scottish Parliament. However the number of people taking part was much lower than the organisers had expected, with around 40 turning up. A demonstrator said: “I don’t have anything personal against Hilary Clinton but Clinton means past and Obama means change.”

What was intended to be a rally ended up being a small demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament. Still Obama will receive a symbol of support from Scotland for his campaign. Kez Degeale, rally organizer, said: “We have a big banner which people are signing in support for Obama. We will send him the banner with all those signatures.”

L RON HUBBUB

by Chris Hammond
and Pere Fornes

SquareOne News

Over a hundred masked protestors gathered in Hunter Square, Edinburgh to rally against the alleged practices of The Church of Scientology yesterday.

The peaceful demonstration was arranged by Anonymous, an internet group set up to undertake what they describe as "a war on Scientology".

The group claim to be an organisation devoid of any organisational hierarchy and rely on the individual efforts of its members who use Facebook and Youtube groups to coordinate their protests.

SquareOne spoke to members of Anonymous at the Edinburgh protest who explained that they hoped to raise awareness of what they claim to be a catalogue of illegal and immoral practices perpetrated by the Church on its members and critics.

Protester Gas Mask Chan said: “If you are opposed to Scientology you can be lied to, harassed, followed, sued, discredited and have your property damaged."

On 10th February Anonymous held protests against Scientology in 93 major cities across the globe. The group has also harassed Scientology Churches with prank phone calls and blank faxes. Anonymous expects to stage more protests in the future.

The Church of Scientology denies the claims and responded to the worldwide protests in a statement which said: "Anonymous' claims of altruistic purposes are no different than those heard from any terrorist or hate group. We are not the first to be targeted. Using Scientology's prominence, Anonymous hopes to garner more attention. Religious bigotry of any nature is deplorable."