On Saturday, around 3 p.m., approximately 300 youth attempted to storm the Church of Scientology building at 401 West Hastings in Vancouver.
“We received information that people were trying to kick in a gate at the rear of the building, but they were stopped by police,” said Sgt. Adam Donaldson with the Vancouver Police Department.
Police report that people in the crowd were throwing things at police but that no officers were injured.
The crowd was initially dispersed by about 5 p.m. but many people came back a short time later.
“One person that was arrested was a 16-year-old male. He ended up being released to his parents. No criminal charges relating out of that were recommended to crowd to Crown counsel,” said Donaldson.
The crowd was finally gone by 6:30 p.m.
The incident was concerning to police as many of the participants were masked.
“I saw a lot of things that were very concerning to me. I saw some young people that were masked up. When people are wearing masks, it leads me to believe that there’s some intent to do something nefarious.”
Donaldson had a message for parents of the teens involved.
“You got to know what your what your kids are doing. It may seem fun for young people to get swept up in these viral trends, but this is a criminal matter. People trying to get into a building is break and enter. Damaging property is mischief. Throwing things at police is assaulting a police officer.”
There were no reports of damaged property at the church.
With files from David Nadalini