A couple of weeks ago, the Daily Mail wrote about a bizarre protest that had taken place outside an Anglican church in Hampstead, north London:
…At morning service at the church attached to Christ Church primary school yesterday [Sunday 22 March], parishioners were confronted by a group of between 20 and 30 of [Ella] Draper’s supporters, who hurled abuse at them and held up their mobile phones to film them as they arrived.
‘Paedophiles,’ screamed one of the protesters. The group — or ‘mob’, some might say — were eventually moved on by the police.
Some of those who attended the church service were left visibly upset by what happened. Remember, this was a Sunday morning in genteel Hampstead.
As has been widely reported, Draper (who is currently on the run from police) coached and coerced her two young children into making lurid videos in which they made extravagant claims of Satanic Ritual Abuse against their father and individuals associated with the school, church, and locality. The children alleged not just child sex, but also the ritual murder of babies, brought in from other parts of the world. They further claimed that babies are cooked and eaten at a nearby fast-food outlet, and that a shoe-repair shop makes baby-skin shoes for cult members.
Draper’s partner recorded the children saying all this, and uploaded the videos to YouTube. Those videos have gone viral on conspiracy websites, although there is now a court order that makes it contempt of court to identify the children. In compliance with this ruling (and in agreement with the ruling’s aim, which is to protect the children), I am avoiding linking to any site or video created by the protestors and their supporters.
Since 22 March, the protests have been a regular ordeal for locals wishing to attend the church or take their children to the adjacent school; David Aaronovitch, who lives nearby, noted in the Times at the end of last month:
As I write this, the loonies are outside the church just down the road again for the second Sunday in a row. Only today it’s windy, cold and raining so there are fewer of them. There are several police vans nearby, continuing a presence that has gone on all week, with officers overseeing the arrival and departure of children at the Anglican primary school linked to the church.
Aaronovitch described the protestors as being “mostly women in their late fifties for some reason”. That was also the impression I got from watching some videos of the first protest that had been unloaded to YouTube. However, as I noted at the time, the most vocal protestor was an American woman named Christine Sands. Sands is involved with the 9/11 Truth movement, as well as other conspiracy-theory related activism.
A new video, made by Sands and posted by her to YouTube, shows that police eventually caught up with her at a protest outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in support of Julian Assange. In the video, the arresting officer explains the allegations:
On the 22nd of March this year, yeah, you’ve caused harassment and distress intentionally to members of the parish of the Christ Church, Hampstead, leaving the church. You’ve been shouting abusive things, saying that people are “fucking their children”. It’s been caught on video cameras by officers at the scene, and an arrest is necessary so that you can be interviewed about that matter.
Also apparently arrested at the same protest was Neelu Berry, who was present at the protest in Hampstead and at earlier protests organized by Belinda McKenzie outside the High Court.
Sands has also given herself a title, and she now describes herself as “Sheriff Sands”. This is consistent with her views on the invalidity of existing legal and law enforcement authorities. She claims that she has been “kidnapped” rather than arrested.
(H/T @erichardcastle)
UPDATE (17 April): A local paper for Hampstead and Highgate, the Ham & High, tells us what happened next:
Christine Ann Sands… pleaded guilty to two charges after attending a protest outside Christ Church last month.
The first charge was for using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, under section 4A of the Public Order Act (1986).
The second charge was for engaging in riotous, violent or indecent behaviour in a church or church yard, under the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act (1860).
…A second woman has also been charged with the same two offences. Neelu Berry… pleaded not-guilty to the two charges and will appear at Tottenham Magistrates Court on August 4.
Sand’s Twitter feed, @overthrowusgov, has been disabled.
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