Anonymous to ‘destroy’ anti-gay church over Charleston picket threat
Hackers collective Anonymous has threatened to “destroy” any attempt to picket the funerals of Charleston shooting victims by the Westboro Baptist Church.
The hackers collective said on Monday that it would bring back its campaign against the WBC, which threatened to picket the funerals of those killed last week in the shooting in South Carolina.
In a number of tweets, Anonymous seemed to suggest it would take violent action against the WBC, saying it would implement a three-phase strategy to deal with the church.
In one tweet, accompanied by a photograph of a number of automatic weapons, Anonymous said: “Let’s just saying the WBC might need to hire some armed guards.”
The WBC sent a number of vile tweets including the hashtag “#GodSentTheShooter”, and threats to picket the funeral.
Taking to Twitter, Anonymous replied to the WBC, threatening to take down the church’s website, as well as disrupting any physical protest.
“The WBC maintains a rather large cyber infrastructure, and we will destroy this entirely by various means,” the hackers said in a statement, going on to say “Operation Shield” is now in effect.
“On the ground, Anonymous will deploy operatives who will initiate our standard operating procedure for dealing with funeral pickets by the Westboro Baptist Church.”
The WBC is well known for picketing the funerals of soldiers, and has threatened to do the same at the funerals of past shootings.
Anonymous continued a long running battle with the WBC in 2012, when the church threatened to picket the funerals of Sandy Hook shooting victims.
