Social media has been abuzz since Saturday night over speculations on the return of Anonymous, a once-feared decentralised hacktivist group, widely known for its various cyberattacks against world governments, institutions and multinational corporations in and out of the United States.
The group went silent on major operations since 2016 after several years of cyber activism and vigilantism by leaking vital informations to the public online.
The speculation of their return came after a Facebook page claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous posted a video on May 28 warning Minneapolis police department in the US that ‘we will be exposing your many crimes to the world.’
According to US media outlets, this is in retaliation for the murder of an African American man, George Floyd by a White Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin.
The video, which has since been viewed over 1.8 million times, shows a figure wearing black hooded jacket, Guy Fawkes mask, speaking through an electronically altered voiceover – the only identities of the group.
Anonymous’ message in the video highlights the inaction of US police officers who support perpetrators of violence and thereby are involved such acts.
In the video, the masked figure said;
Police brutality and murder is a widespread problem in the United States, which has undoubtedly infected nearly every jurisdiction in the country. But, the Minneapolis police department is among the worst and has a horrible track record of violence and corruption.
This week’s brutal killing of George Floyd, which has sparked protests and national outrage, is just the tip of the iceberg in a long list of high profile cases of wrongful deaths at the hands of officers in your state.
In addition, Anonymous cited several high-profile deaths, stating;
In the past two decades, 193 people have been killed by police in Minnesota, including the deaths of Jamar Clark, Philando Castle, Justine Damond, Thomas Blevines and Brian Quinones. These are only the cases that caught headlines, where videos and other evidence prove that the police are lying.
The masked speaker noted that the ‘travesty has continued for far too long, and the people have had enough.’
Towards the end of the message, Anonymous expressed;
You may have fired the officer to save face, but it is obvious that this type of behaviour is condoned, if not encouraged in your department, as it is in others.
Officers who kill people and commit other crimes need to be held accountable just like the rest of us; otherwise, they will believe they have the license to do whatever they want.
Anonymous then called for criminal charges to be brought against all cops involved in the death of an African American man, George Floyd, not just Derek Chauvin.
The masked speaker ended the video with a resounding assurance that ‘many crimes’ of United States police departments will be exposed.
Anonymous then said; ‘We are legion.’ which is a reference to a bible passage (Mark 5 vs 9).
Two days after the video was posted, reports by US citizens raised alarm that the websites of the Minneapolis police department city of Minneapolis were inaccessible, allegedly by Anonymous.
However, as at press time, the inaccessible website has not been confirmed to be the doing of Anonymous.
Though, a Twitter account, @LatestAnonNews, which claims to be run by ‘multiple Anons,’ did not explicitly take credit for the outage of the websites, but it retweeted tweets from users who suggested that the attack was carried out by Anonymous group.
Following outbreak of violent protests across the United States over the unlawful killing of Floyd, Chauvin was apprehended on Friday night on third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges.
Read Also: US Police Derek Chauvin Who Killed George Floyd By Kneeling On His Neck Charged With Murder
The incident first sparked public outcry after a video of the White policemen kneeling on the neck of Floyd went viral on social media on
In the video, the victim could be seen on the floor begging the officer to take his knee off of him, crying; ‘I can’t breathe.’ Floyd later died.
Read Also: Crowds Protest Outside White House Against George Floyd’s Killing
The violent protest have so far resulted in the death of a US Federal Service Police Officer, hundreds of protesters arrested and destroyed properties.
Watch video below;
This video will poison your mind positively 💯🖤#Anonymous pic.twitter.com/vmvenXsT0d
— Adamz 💯 (@Philz_adamz) May 31, 2020
Shortly after the video was posted and the Minneapolis Police Department and city of Minneapolis websites were taken down, Anonymous then directed everyone’s attention to their sibling faction @OpDeathEaters.
This faction which target pedophiles and sex trafficking rings, leaked a document Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Little Black Book’ on scribd.com.
Jeffrey Edward Epstein was an American financier and a registered sex offender, who before his death in 2019, developed an elite social circle and procured many women, including underage girls, who were then sexually abused by Epstein and some of his contacts.
The address book contains Epstein’s high profile friends and contains names such as popular model and actress, Naomi Campbell, US President Donald Trump, former Prime Minister of the UK, Tony Blair, and the Duke of York, Prince Andrew and ex-wife and Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, who are all part of the sex trafficking ring.
Some of the explosive documents alleged that Trump was involved in sexual misconduct alongside Epstein.
A 2016 court filings listed Donald Trump as a defendant alongside Epstein in the rape case of a 13-year-old girl who claims she was forcibly raped at multiple parties at Epstein’s New York residence in the summer of 1994.
When one Twitter user alleged that Anonymous works for Bill Gates, @YourAnonCentral exposed him too, alleging that he was also involved in Epstein’s ring and laundered money for the disgraced financier.
They even pointed fingers at the royal family, claiming that Princess Diana was murdered for possessing recorded testimony of a rape committed by Prince Charles’ staff.
Anonymous has also advised that the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, should be investigated but did not give any further detail about why.
And lastly, the group has also promised to expose the Ferguson Police Department.
The leaked information has caused a lot of buzz on Twitter.
