Anonymous Clashes With D.C. Police During Million Mask March

Daniel_Stuckey writes "Scheduled to coincide with Guy Fawkes Night, a centuries-old day of remembrance typically celebrated in Great Britain, the Nov. 5 protest is something of a tradition for the hacktivist collective. Anonymous, which is often identified by the Fawkes mask used in the Hollywood blockbuster V for Vendetta, hosted a similar rally in 2011, dubbed 'Night of a Thousand Masks.' Protesters in Washington, D.C. clashed with police before noon. By approximately 10am, an arrest was made. The incident was livestreamed, and Anonymous claimed that the individual was grabbed and arrested after stepping off a sidewalk and into the street. A spokesperson for the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment."

Comments

Stay behind the line!

[BringsApples]

I've never understood why protesters obey the rules and regulations of protests. I understand protesting, but for god's sake people, staying behind the line, or really keeping up any fabricated reason not to go to jail, is silly. The whole reason for a protest is to go to jail. It's not just to go to jail, but to have so many people go to jail that there is no feasible way that they can house them all. In the end, the point should be to overwhelm not only the people that you are protesting against, but to also overwhelm the police that have to look each person in the eye and arrest them. All protests should carry on without violence, without resistance, until the jails are filled.

"Fight the power" means just that, however there are 2 pieces of the power - law-makers, and law-enforcers.

Re:Stay behind the line!

[Joining Yet Again]

OK. You go first.

Re:Stay behind the line!

[palemantle]

Going to jail as a protest isn't much of an option in the US of A. It doesn't matter if you are acquitted, yours chance of gainful employment are shot for good.

I don't know if *you* would still do it given the chance. I know I wouldn't

Re:Stay behind the line!

[Anonymous Coward]

This is Slashdot. Maybe ten years ago, maybe. Today? No. No frickin' way!

How can I show up to work tomorrow if I'm in jail?

Give me a blog post about violence in video games by a third-rate hack tech-journalist so I can express my superiority and fuck off. I've had a long day.

Re:Stay behind the line!

[Thanshin]

All protests should carry on without violence, without resistance, until the jails are filled.

One should not protest unless ready to start a revolution. And once that decision is made, protesting is not the optimal path to victory.

The day the reasonable people decide it's time to start a revolution won't be marked by a large protest, but by fire and blood and horror.

Re:Stay behind the line!

[b4upoo]

Ghandi and Dr. King would tell you that peaceful protestors who break no laws often go to jail. You know, a cop whacks you over the head with a night stick, knocking you unconscious and then arrests you for sleeping on the sidewalk. Freedom to peacefully protest no longer exists in the US.

Re:Stay behind the line!

[BringsApples]

Right. So if that's the case, if people do not feel their cause is important enough to go to jail for 24 hours, then it's more likely that they're protesting in order to "have been there maaan", or something cheaper. In that case, the police take a different mindset, and that mindset is the scary one (probably because the police don't have respect for them at that point).

Protesting is supposed to be an event that brings to light the truth behind logic and order's place in society.

Re:Stay behind the line!

[Ralph Wiggam]

Freedom to peacefully protest no longer exists in the US.

Thousands of people gathered in DC to protest NSA surveillance just a few weeks ago. Tens of thousands of people gathered all over the country in July for "Restore the Fourth". I don't know of any arrests or conflicts with the police.

Re:Stay behind the line!

[Joining Yet Again]

Being arrested is not a badge of honour, kid.

And having states arrest people for protesting should not be a goal.

Re:Stay behind the line!

[somersault]

In a country of 300 million people, I think you need a bit more than "tens of thousands" across the country for the government to feel threatened. Peaceful protest is all well and good - but as long as people continue to work, and the government knows there will be no violent uprising, why would they care? Did those protests achieve anything at all?

Re:Stay behind the line!

[BringsApples]

I never said anything about honor or a goal. You're basically telling me that surfers that say "Dude, sometimes you slam into the coral and get cut, but that's all part of it", are not surfers, but rather they are seeking honor, and slamming into the coral is the goal.

No. All I was saying is that if you're out there protesting, then it should be something that you feel strongly about. So strong, that you are willing to go to jail for a few hours, at the very least. Protests only "work" when the powers that be change something. All else is not protesting, but simply hanging out. I'm not suggesting rioting, or anything like that, but you've gotta do more than sit around waiting to be pepper-sprayed by people that have no respect for you anymore - because you're such a pansy (this would be their mentality).

Re:Stay behind the line!

[Yetihehe]

So strong, that you are willing to go to jail for a few hours, at the very least.

Nope, now you can be accused of terrorism and held for a month just as an example or slapped with a nice fine of several thousand dollars for costs of detainment.

Re:Stay behind the line!

[RazorSharp]

Blue collar jobs often actually do background checks and just toss out applicants who have criminal records. It's just a supply/demand issue: the supply of blue collar workers is extremely high while the demand for them is extremely low. Therefore, companies can choose to be extremely picky in who they hire. This creates a terrible situation for many who don't have the resources or intelligence to gain the higher education necessary to make them valuable enough for a company to overlook any misdemeanors they've been charged with. I assume that you have either an education or skills that make you valuable enough to your employer to overlook whatever prior offense you have on your record, or your skills in combination with your interview meant they didn't see any reason to bother with a background check.

Unfortunately, blue collar workers, who probably have the most reason to protest, also have the most to lose by doing so. They could make themselves unemployable to all but the lowest paying fast food jobs, which in turn would make crime a more appealing source of income, at which point they become part of the penal system's revolving door trap.

Re:Arrest them all

[BlueStrat]

Anonymous is a bunch of mindless vigilante manchildren and idiotic trolls. Maybe if mommy has to go bail them out they'll grow up.

Why hello there, tool of the police state!

After the government is done jailing all the people exercising their 1A rights whom you didn't support because they said things you disapprove of, they'll get around to you.

Some things about, and actions taken by, Anonymous I support. Others I disagree with.

But I'd fight to the death for their right to speak out, because I understand that if they can be silenced, so can I or anyone else.

Strat

Re:Occupy Sandy

[Joining Yet Again]

If you don't know about agents provocateurs, you really ought not to be at a protest - it's like crossing the road without knowing that you might have to check for traffic.

IOW, protest leaders need to give some basic training to protesters.

"Day of remembrance"?

[Sockatume]

It was a celebration of the capture and execution of anti-government forces, with some vaguely anti-Catholic undertones, not a remembrance of their efforts. It has since metamorphosed into a politically neutral excuse to set off some fireworks and eat hamburgers on soggy November nights, and I'm all for using it as an ironic de-facto civil liberties day, but let's not be mistaken about its historical origins.

Re:London too

[RDW]

``No,'' said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, ``nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards role the people.''

``Odd,'' said Arthur, ``I thought you said it was a democracy.''

``I did,'' said Ford. ``It is.''

``So,'' said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, ``why don't people get rid of the lizards?''

``It honestly doesn't occur to them,'' said Ford. ``They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.''

``You mean they actually vote for the lizards?''

``Oh yes,'' said Ford with a shrug, ``of course.''

``But,'' said Arthur, going for the big one again, ``why?''

``Because if they didn't vote for a lizard,'' said Ford, ``the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?''

Re:London too

[Joining Yet Again]

I see you're preaching for the Church of American Conservatism, and I am not interested in your leaflets.

I don't want to change the size of government. I want the people to take back control of government.

You're just trying to sell me a power vacuum.