Fear not! Cult leader Muriel Dufresne defuses the televised PR fiasco with characteristic aplomb. Photo by CamerAnonymous.

Now that Gold Base, Scientology's global HQ near Hemet, CA has been protested often I gathered up my favorite photos of the place. I took many of them and some are from the collections of other protesters like AnonOrange, Glib, Resistance, CameraAnonymous as well as the LA Times.   What started as isolated protests in 2008 became a group protest in January 2009.  In one protest AnonOrange brought a pole mounted camera. At another we used the pole camera supplied by KESQ TV.  At an early protest a long lineup of security guys and video workers were brought out to record and intimidate us. But they just got partially deprogrammed. Next the cult turned to the incredibly loud surround sound system. There aren't any birds around when that thing comes on!  And then they turned the sprinklers on.  Maybe they could combine the sprinklers with the loud tones and make a kind of "waltzing waters" effect. 

Early on the cops didn't know who to have jurisdiction and CHIPS officers came and hassled us about petty issues but did not ticket us.  Later on Riverside cops took over and either sheepishly showed up in huge groups or avoided the protest all together as long as it remained peaceful, which they all are. The cops who are shown below frisking the 18 year old coed were so interested in Gold we spent 20 minutes with them talking about it after we were searched. A lot of people in the area know of Golden Era Productions but they have no idea what it is.