March 29, 2024

Bits Blog: Anonymous Protest Turns Tumultuous

10:00 p.m. | Updated

Anonymous may be better at hacking than at organizing a protest.

More than a dozen members of the hacker group Anonymous joined a small group of San Francisco residents Monday evening to protest the fatal shooting of a 45-year-old man by police officers last month.

The protest, which began peacefully, became more chaotic when individuals tried to disrupt the transit system at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station. Police officers in riot gear closed the station gates while protesters chanted at them.

Last week, during a similar protest, BART officials killed wireless and cellular activity at a number of BART stations with the hopes of quelling protestors. In response, Anonymous members hacked myBart.org, a Web site for BART riders, and leaked the names, phone numbers and passwords of many of the site’s users.

The Federal Communications Commission said Monday that it was investigating BART officials’ decision to cut cellular service.

Several Anonymous members wearing the group’s well-known Guy Fawkes masks said they had organized the protest to ensure that BART officials did not cut cellular and wireless services again.

Daniel Hartwig, deputy chief of police for the BART police department, said officials had not disrupted cellular activity in the train system, but officials had decided to close the train station until protesters dispersed.

“Protestors began disrupting trains and we did not feel there was safe passage for BART passengers,” Deputy Chief Hartwig said. “We do not oppose protesters exercising their First Amendment rights, but we do need to protect passengers.”

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6d445f99a5c0878531e0e9ea53223d37