The day of the Million March Protest finally came and the hacktivist group Anonymous kept its word. Yes, there was a march and there were marches in several places and these marches were attended by thousands of protesters. True to its word, the march was phenomenally successful but there were instances of violence where protesters clashed with the police resulting in injuries to the police officers and the arrests of the protesters.
But before we check what happen where, let us take a look at the background of the protest marches. A year ago, an unarmed black teenager Mike Brown was shot dead by a white police officer Darren Wilson in the United States of America. The grand jury did not convict the police officer resulting in his release. In the protest march that followed, Anonymous protested against the police officer.
Anonymous members were threatened by the notorious racist group Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
It has been a year since the incident and Anonymous in its bid to oppose censorship, war and corruption as well as the racist incidents as mentioned above where the government or the government officials are involved, planned a march on 5th November 2015. Anonymous requested its members to join the protest and march again the injustice. The hacktivist group also stated that they will reveal the identity of Ku Klux Klan group members on this day.
Last month Anonymous tweeted that its members will release the list of 1000 KKK members and sympathisers on 5th November, the day of the march to build a resistance against the racial violence, one of the agenda it is supporting in the march. A few lists have already been released containing the names of KKK members but Anonymous has not yet confirmed whether the lists are released by its members.
The reason for selecting November 5th as a day of protest because it was the date back in 1605 when Guy Fawkes tried to blow the parliament of England. The mask of Guy Fawkes was made popular by the character V in the movie V for Vendetta. The mask is commonly used as the identity of Anonymous members. The mask as well as the date of 5th November is considered by Anonymous as symbolic in their protest against the tyranny of the governments.
But the march this year has turned out ugly. There were clashes between the Anonymous members and the police and few cars were burnt as well while protesting. Three police officers were injured in the protest and are hospitalised. Also one police horse was injured in the protest clash as well. 50 protesters are arrested. The incident happened in London where 18,000 Anonymous hacktivists, wearing their trademark masks were protesting.
In the United States of America, the protesters were held in several cities. A large number of protesters attended the march in Seattle. In Washington DC, there were several protesters who participated in the march with slogan “Nobody 4 President”. One of the placards held by a protester read, “If you stand for Nothing, you fall for Everything”. In California, Anonymous hacktivists protested outside the Los Angeles Times. In New York, there were protests outside Wall Street.
In other parts of the world, there were marches in Gautemala and Montreal. Also, there were marches in Amsterdam and Colorado. The march is an annual protest event of Anonymous that started in 2012. The current march was violent and led to clashes with police and damages to cars. Anonymous received a positive response from supporters from across the world.
Anonymous is considered as a movement with no apparent head or leaders. These are general people and there are no guidelines for who can become its members.
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