Cyber activists associated with Anonymous have warned Canadian officials against forcibly evicting Occupy protestors from the city of Toronto.
“The brave citizens of Toronto are peaceful and well-mannered occupiers, and we will not let the city, or the mayor that uses vulgar language in public get involved,” the group vowed in video posted on YouTube.
“You have said by next week the Occupiers shall be removed, and we say by next week you do not change your mind you shall be removed from the Internet. We have already planned for this, so if we see any interruptions we will launch the operation that we have planned for a while… Toronto, expect us.”
Councillor Paul Ainslie – whose committee oversees the city’s IT systems – said he refused to be intimidated by Anonymous and would not “negotiate with cyber-terrorists.”
“I won’t dare them… But I certainly feel safe and secure that they are not going to be able to hack into the City of Toronto’s system,” Ainslie told the Toronto Sun.
It should be noted that Anonymous recently targeted the Oakland Police Department (OPD) and other law enforcement agencies that participated in a controversial crackdown against OccupyOakland demonstrators.
The OPD has dismantled the OccupyOakland encampment twice over the past month, with the latest eviction taking place early Monday morning at Frank Ogawa Plaza.
Protestors have vowed to reclaim the downtown space, and are scheduled to “re-converge” at the Oakland Main Public this afternoon.
“Whatever they do, they’re going to just make us keep going,” musician and activist Boots Riley told the San Francisco Chronicle.
“They’re in a lose-lose situation. The camp is not going to go away.”
