Who are Anonymous as the hacker group post a warning to the Minneapolis Police Department?

Hacktivist group Anonymous have seemingly returned (Picture:@YourAnonCentral) Hacktivist group Anonymous have returned with a video which pledges to expose Minneapolis Police Department’s ‘many crimes to the world’ following the killing of George Floyd.

The video, which shows an activist wearing the group’s token Guy Fawkes mask, and speaking with an electronically manipulated voice ends with the message: ‘We Are legion. Expect us.’ Shortly after the video was released, the Minneapolis Police Department’s website was disabled and taken offline. 

It is presumed this was down to the work of the hackers but this is yet to be confirmed. So, who are Anonymous? Who are Anonymous? Anonymous are a group of online activists whose main aim is to target establishment hypocrisy and corruption.

The group first shot to attention in 2008 when a copyrighted Scientology video starring Tom Cruise was leaked on YouTube. 

The group distributed denial-of-service attacks against Scientology websites in retaliation after the church asked for the video to be taken down. 

Anonymous message for the American Spring. #Anonymous #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #ICantBreathe #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/LY6XldgdNp— Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) May 31, 2020

 A denial-of-service attack is a deliberate attempt to overwhelm an online service through superflous requests, thus rendering it unusable. They rapidly started using online attacks as a form of nonviolent protest and by 2010, 

it was launching regular distributed denial-of-service attacks against websites in support of copyright. Since then, the decentralised group has taken on a massive range of attacks including ‘Operation Ice ISIS’ where they attacked the Islamic State’s social media accounts and ‘destroyed’ months of recruitment work, as well as ‘Operation KKK’ where they obtained, and threatened to release 1,000 KKK members’ names. 

Their latest video carries a damning message for the Minneapolis Police Department, stating: ‘Officers who kill people and commit other crimes need to be held accountable just like the rest of us. Otherwise, they will believe that they have a license to do whatever they want. 

People have had enough of this corruption and violence from an organisation that promises to keep them safe. ‘After the events of the past few years, many people are beginning to learn that you are not here to save us but rather you are here to oppress us and carry out the will of the criminal ruling class. You are here to keep order for the people in control, not to provide safety for the people who are controlled. 

‘In fact, you are the very mechanism that elites use to continue their global system of oppression.’ Derek Chauvin, 44, has been charged with third-degree murder in the George Floyd case after videos emerged of a white American police officer kneeling on Mr Floyd’s neck as he pleaded: ‘I can’t breathe’