Opponents to picket scientologists

CRITICS OF the Church of Scientology plan to picket the organisation's Dublin headquarters today as part of a worldwide campaign by internet activists against the religion.

Anonymous Ireland, a loose alliance of people involved in the internet protests, says it wants to "systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form".

At its first protest last month, more than 100 masked and mostly young protesters picketed the church on Middle Abbey Street. The group, which says it remains anonymous because of fears of intimidation or legal threats, claims scientology is a "money-grabbing cult" which brainwashes its followers.

Dialogue Ireland, a Dublin-based anti-cult group, says it plans to take part in today's protest.

"We view the formation of Anonymous as the most significant development raising issues concerning cultist new religious movements or 'cults' in a generation," said its director, Mike Garde.

The church claims Anonymous Ireland is anti-freedom of religion and anti-free speech. It accuses the group of being "a group of cyber-terrorists who hide their identities behind masks and computer anonymity".

Spokesman Gerard Ryan said he had been subjected to threatening and abusive phone-calls since the protests began. His personal e-mail had been hacked into and redirected to third parties, while the church in Belfast received a bomb threat during last month's protest.

The recent upsurge in attacks, many of them carried out by hackers and internet activists, came after the church forced YouTube to remove a leaked video featuring actor Tom Cruise extolling its virtues.