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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."

11 of 388 comments (clear)

  1. Stay behind the line! by BringsApples · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    --
    Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
    1. Re:Stay behind the line! by Joining+Yet+Again · · Score: 5, Insightful

      OK. You go first.

    2. Re:Stay behind the line! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:Stay behind the line! by Thanshin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    4. Re:Stay behind the line! by b4upoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    5. Re:Stay behind the line! by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    6. Re:Stay behind the line! by BringsApples · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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).

      --
      Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
    7. Re:Stay behind the line! by RazorSharp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      "From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
  2. Re:Arrest them all by BlueStrat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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

    --
    Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
  3. Re:Occupy Sandy by Joining+Yet+Again · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  4. Re:London too by Joining+Yet+Again · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.