Part 79: The Squirrel Squad Gets Fair Gamed – The Scientologists and LAPD Strike Back Hard
Published February 18, 2024, Updated February 19, 2024.
Photo of firefighters and paramedics from the Los Angeles Fire Department after clearing a fake structure fire call near the La Poubelle Bistro & Bar by author (GoPro Hero 11 Black).
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By Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist
Don’t call it a group they said, drop the “Squad” from the organically organized protests against the Church of Scientology. How this even started now is subject to debate, but the outcome was fast becoming clear at the nightly protest at La Poubelle Bistro & Bar. The blue colored French Restaurant opposite the Scientology Celebrity Center at the intersection of Franklin and Bronson was growing into an increasingly dangerous atmosphere. After closing one night last Saturday, owner/manager François Koster is believed to have had hired Los Angeles Police Department officers to stand guard the following Tuesday along with hired plainclothes bouncers of significant height. LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.
Their ill-fitting suits dragged as the enclosed tented outdoor dining area was transformed into a security station. The guards did not stop two young men, one African-American and Asian-American and from coming out the first night I went back out on Wednesday. The latter after engaging in brief banter about the reason the protestors were filming attempted to assault the young Latino protester on the sidewalk next to me, the young man quickly countered to the push and arm grab with a precisely delivered spray of pepper directly into his eyes, stopping him in his tracks and sending him running back into La Poubelle.
His comrade stood there stunned, looking at us like he didn’t know what happened. It went down so fast that I couldn’t even tell the pepper spray had been used. I had watched only a few minutes before as the protester and his girlfriend told me how viewers had donated the pepper spray for their own protection after watching encounters with intoxicated patrons opposed to the protest against the Church of Scientology. Koster for her part had attended regularly at the trial of actor Danny Masterson, a convicted rapist, who drugged some of his victims in her establishment, before sexually assaulting them. The Church harassed his victims relentlessly after they came forward to report, going as far as poisoning their dogs.
Masterson was given a 30-year sentence in September, and has now been moved from maximum security Corcoran State Prison south of Fresno to minimum-medium security at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo. This was headlined as a “nicer” arrangement of course, nicety being a trait not shown by the LAPD generally towards this activism, which has exploded on social media with many thousands viewing the YouTube and TikTok livestream’s late into the night. “Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist: Politics, Investigations, Media,” I told my new found viewers coolly again as the atmosphere of fear set into the night.
Protestors chased Koster and her daughter out to her Tesla with no license plates visible that night, with bodyguards trying to screen them off from following her down the sidewalk as LAPD assisted in clear coordination. The following night her daughter came out to sneer in disgust, telling the “Squirrels” as Scientology named them in reference to a passage from Church Founder L. Ron Hubbard repeated in a leaked email from inside the Church discussing the use of violent intimidation tactics against the group, that there had been no “physical evidence” against Masterson, they didn’t know, before quipping about the routine fake 911 calls being made as part of a clear strategy of Fair Game with a knowing smile.
If there had been questions about what happened to Confident Chris, the routine encounters between drunken, sometimes belligerent patrons and loud, perhaps even obnoxious, but non-aggressive protestor’s became more confrontational. One group of young women coming out of the establishment had engaged rudely, sparking more debate as they crossed Bronson into the Gelson’s Market parking lot and a bottle crashed into the street narrowly missing one from the direction of the adjacent bus stop. If it’s sometime hard to tell exactly what happens on the streets of Hollywood at night especially while streaming, the sound was ominous.
The Squirrels had narrowly now twice avoided having someone seriously injured again in the same week. No one trusted the police to protect them, and again they pursued Koster out of the restaurant this time not at the sidewalk where the night before she had dinged a vehicle attempting to leave and was briefly detained while LAPD ostensibly investigated. When I observed to one of the two officers on scene that California requires you to have a paper license plate now even if you don’t have permanent metal one’s, he ignored me with a smile remarking that he was focusing on the traffic investigation and then left with eagerness.
If there’s two principles behind the Church of Scientology’s reputed “Fair Game” practices as they are known. In 1965, founder L. Ron Hubbard had set this out against those who “may cave in or squirrel” against the Church setting forth a policy letter worth quoting at length:
A Potential Trouble Source may receive no processing until the situation is handled.
A Suppressive Person or Group becomes "fair game".
By FAIR GAME is meant, may not be further protected by the codes and disciplines of Scientology or the rights of a Scientologist.
The families and adherents Of Suppressive Persons or GROUPS may not receive processing. It does not matter whether they are or are nor Scientologists. If the families or adherents of Suppressive Persons or Groups are processed, any auditor doing so is guilty of a misdemeanor. (See HCO Policy Letter of 7 March 1965, Issue 11.)
A Potential Trouble Source knowingly permitting himself or herself or the Suppressive Person to be processed without advising the auditor or Scientology authorities is guilty of a crime. (See HCO Policy Letter of 7 March 1965, Issue 11.)
Word spread that the Scientologists were describing the protestors as being a gang. Social media influencer Jessica Palmadessa donned a white ski mask in protest for the entire Thursday night. Short in stature, combined with her gray hoodie it looked absolutely ghostly, and so after leaving La Poubelle and heading down to the old hospital complex known as the “Blue Building” stretching from Sunset Boulevard to Fountain Avenue we walked around the neighborhood before encountering a man near our starting point, who became completely startled at the sight of such oddity late in Hollywood looking like some kind of mugger.
People routinely tell me that I’m not much of a journalist, in fact, that I’ve become too close to this story to be objective, and usually I respond that how else do they expect me to get the actual story without least talking with the activists, much less having some perspective of my own to give context. The social media drama on this story is strong, and the media hand is light. So after a long day of investigating political corruption in Los Angeles, I went back on Friday night only to arrive late just as the LAPD helicopter circled overhead and two protestors found me inside the Gelson’s Market fleeing from the scene. A fight had broken out, after a bar patron flicked a lit cigarette directly at a protestor and attacked yet again before being put reportedly in a headlock by another until he stopped fighting.
Another scuffle had reportedly broken out as well at or near the same time, again resulting in the use of pepper spray in self-defense, before the assailant left the scene with the same protestor attempting to stop her vehicle from leaving. We left the scene to watch the aftermath unfold on livestream before heading down to the Hollywood Police Station after LAPD arrested 3 from the Squirrel Squad in a single swoop, having previously detained an on-again off-again member on unrelated charges. After spending hours on the steps of the station and thankfully getting pizza, donuts and water from grateful viewers, we finally heard the charges: felony unlawful use of tear gas, and reportedly an assault and battery charge as well for the headlock.
Two of the three arrested were released the following day after being taken in handcuffs by LAPD to the North Hollywood station before being transferred to Men’s Central Jail in Downtown Los Angeles, operated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Under California Penal Code § 22810 PC adults in California may possess up to 2.5 fluid ounces of pepper spray subject to the following provision: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person may purchase, possess, or use tear gas or any tear gas weapon for the projection or release of tear gas if the tear gas or tear gas weapon is used solely for self-defense purposes.” There is an an additional charge of criminal conspiracy against at least the remaining person in jail.
On the phone in front of the Hollywood station, this was described as a conspiracy charge. The charges against the 2 protestors released so far have not been dropped. Other than being handcuffed for hours they were fairly well-treated and fed. The third remains in detention under arrest pending a court appearance anticipated to occur next Wednesday February 21 due to Monday’s President’s Day Holiday. Friday nights are the worst night to be arrested as it guarantees a weekend in jail. Well-known activist William Gude previously well-known in Los Angeles as “FilmThePoliceLA” who now also used the handle “Scientology Audit (StreetsLA) or just “Streets” for short spoke to the remaining Squirrels on the steps of the Hollywood Station that night perhaps about 2:30 am in the cool February night.
“Now we have to pressure, we have to put pressure on the LAPD so call them out, you felt this way, download your videos, repost them about what happened, tell the story about what happened, post it on YouTube and all the other places,” he told the activists. “We’re going to put together a whole campaign to email the hell out of the Chief, Deputy Chiefs, the PIO, this station, we’re going to have their phones ringing like crazy, this is just, conspiracy guys,” he said questioningly in disbelief. Gude believes that District Attorney George Gascón will not move forward with felony charges, and I couldn’t help but agree, I had witnessed no discussion about using the pepper spray for anything other than self-defense.
Most importantly, in a situation, in which LAPD had completely failed to build any trust with the group repeatedly ignoring assaults against them only to take the perpetrators around the block and then releasing them without any charges being made. None of this though made it into the NBC LA segment produced by journalists Anastassia Olmos and Karla Rendon the following day across from La Poubelle, which means “trash can” in French next to the Celebrity Center. The NBC segment headlined it as “Protest held outside Hollywood restaurant turns violent” noting only one person being arrested, despite interviewing two protestors who had clearly been arrested and detained inside two different jails overnight. It’s unclear when or if they were read their Miranda rights, and Gude had observed LAPD reviewing video from live streams only minutes before LAPD moved in to make arrests.
In fact, the NBC story doesn’t mention any relation of the protests being in relation to the Church of Scientology, only to Danny Masterson while repeatedly emphasizing that neighbors were afraid of the protestors and not willing to speak on camera. “It’s usually people walking by that get aggressive with us because it is a public sidewalk and we do have the right to film anybody walking on a public sidewalk,” said one activist interviewed. “At the end of the day, we’re just … raising awareness about how bad some these paint [sic] places are in Hollywood,” he said in reference to the Church of Scientology after spending a night in jail barely sleeping.
William “Streets” Gude had him picked up after being released, and off to The Grove in no time to get a new cellphone to replace the one that had been damaged in the melee the prior night. Gude who gets answers faster than just about every single journalist in Los Angeles posted an email statement in response from LAPD Deputy Chief Gerald Woodyard on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying about the Friday February 16 incident: “I have received several videos and I am keenly aware of your concerns of the incident that occurred in Hollywood area yesterday. Woodyard continues writing to Gude: “We will be looking into this matter and taking the necessary steps internally to address your concerns and if appropriate initiating a personnel complaint.”
The following night I returned to La Poubelle Bistro & Bar, a bit earlier this time, and only a few of the Squirrels were there, including one just fresh out of jail having barely rested after having had to use pepper spray twice in the same week for self-defense. The LAPD was already there again on scene. This time for what was reported to be an assault with a deadly weapon call, the officers stood there, one particularly grim-faced officer asking him, “you got any of that pepper spray tonight” to which he replied that he had “left it at home.” LAPD left without making any arrest on the fake call, and soon LAFD was there for the neighboring strip mall for a fake structure fire call; with 3 fire trucks and one ambulance burning fuel by the minute.
The protestors told the firefighters and paramedics that their time was being wasted. I couldn’t help but agree, the situation was absurd, one the greatest displays of first responder resources I had seen in my life, a child’s dream almost, police and fire on display within minutes of each other. You simply couldn’t get a better show even over on Hollywood Boulevard where the unhoused, both tented and simply on the street rested in quiet amidst the sound of traffic. So far, neither the City Attorney’s office or the Mayor’s Office has been willing to intervene to stop the swatting in response to my inquiries. I requested a statement from LAPD PIO, only to have my request for a formal, updated statement sent to “the Captain over at Hollywood Division.”
Soon the last two Squirrels left, and I found myself alone with Los Angeles Private Investigator Jeffrey Augustine of The Scientology Money Project who was out walking his dog. We discussed the situation, and Jeffrey, who is an old hand in what might be called the “Scientology media” couldn’t help but tell exactly what had happened. The classic suppression strategy of the Church of Scientology on full display, and it had worked, at long last there were no more protesters in front of La Poubelle. “Scientology has been waiting for this moment” one of my viewers dropped into my TikTok chat. Jeffrey, who is a pleasant fellow and I soon were met with a light rainfall, and as we walked past the Gelson’s going our separate ways, and I reached my car before more rain fell on Hollywood.
Link: DANNY MASTERSON TRANSFERRED FROM 'MANSON' PRISON ... To Nicer Digs Behind Bars
Link: HUBBARD COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE POLICY LETTER OF 23 DECEMBER 1965
Link: § 22810 PC – Unlawful Use of Tear Gas – California Law
Link: 1 arrest made after protesters, Hollywood restaurant patrons clash
Link: LAPD Statement Posted by FilmThePoliceLA
Link: The Scientology Money Project
Link: LAPD Incident Statement
Please support my work with your subscription or for direct aid use Venmo
Zachary Ellison is an Independent Journalist and Whistleblower in the Los Angeles area. Zach was most recently employed by the University of Southern California, Office of the Provost from October 2015 to August 2022 as an Executive Secretary and Administrative Assistant supporting the Vice Provost for Academic Operations and the Vice Provost and Senior Advisor to the Provost among others. Zach holds a Master’s in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Policy and Planning from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. While a student at USC, he worked for the USC Good Neighbors Campaign including on their newsletter distributed university-wide. Zach completed his B.A. in History at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon and was a writer, editor, and photographer for the Pasadena High School Chronicle. He was Barack Obama’s one-millionth online campaign contributor in 2008. Zach is a former AmeriCorps intern for Hawaii State Parks and worked for the City of Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation. He is a trained civil process server, and enjoys weekends in the great outdoors.
