Amid the massive protests erupting in the United States following the killing of an African American man by a white police officer in Minneapolis in Minnesota, the international group of hackers ‘Anonymous’ have now openly targeted the Minneapolis Police Department by declaring a ‘war’ against them, accusing the police force of systemic violence and corruption. The hacker group has also accused the force of repeated police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
In a message posted on the Anonymous Facebook page with 11 million followers on May 29, the hacker collective has accused the Minneapolis force of condoning the behaviour that led to the death of African-American George Floyd.
A narrator, hiding the face with the well known Anonymous mask, claimed that it did not trust the “corrupt organisation to carry out justice” and said that they will be exposing the ‘many crimes’ of the force to the world.
“People have had enough of this corruption and violence from an organization that promises to keep them safe,” the masked narrator said in his 3-minute long video.
In the video, the hacker group ‘Anonymous’ went on to claim the Minneapolis Police Department has a “horrible track record of violence and corruption”. The group accused the forces of killing as many as 193 people in the past many years.
The group claimed that the police force exists to “carry out the will of the criminal ruling class”.
Anonymous also cited several high-profile deaths “killed by police in Minnesota,” including the 2015 death of Jamar Clark, 2016 killing of Philando Castile, 2017 slaying of Justine Damond, 2018 death of Thurman Blevins and 2019 fatal killing of Brian Quinones.
The masked narrator said that the death of George Floyd is “just the tip of the iceberg” and said officers who kill people “and commit crimes need to be held accountable.”
Later in the video, the narrator also demanded for criminal charges against all cops involved in the death of Floyd, not just Derek Chauvin.
At the end of the video, the hacker group said it does not trust the Minneapolis Police Department to “carry out justice” and warned the force to “expect” them. Anonymous ended the message with a reference to the bible, stating: “We are legion.”
In the video, the voice of the narrator was digitally changed to make identification of the person impossible, or perhaps they used an artificial speech generator program to create the clip.
Death of George Floyd
On May 25, a 46-year-old black man, George Floyd was killed by a police officer, Derek Chauvin, who knelt on the former’s neck for 7 long minutes until his body became unresponsive. George Floyd was seen handcuffed and begging for breath after a police officer had arrested him.
A shopkeeper had called the cops on Floyd for allegedly trying to pass a ‘potential counterfeit bill’. On being taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center, he was pronounced dead.
Following the death of George Floyd, a fresh wave of protests erupted in various US states. Hundreds of protestors have hit the streets to protest against the killing of George Floyd. However, the protests have now turned violent with demonstrators have resorted to rioting, vandalising private properties, leading to large scale violence on the streets of America.
Thousands of Americans have gathered across the country to protest against the killing of George Floyd. However, these ‘protests’ have now escalated into large-scale riots, vandalism and looting. Many stores, boutiques have been looted and destroyed by the violent rioters in various parts of the country.
