As described previously, Anonymous undertook a political mobilization to protest on 5th November 2012, notably against current austerity policies and destruction of public service. Here is what happened yesterday evening, as a result, in a few pictures, tweets and charts.
Re-enacting V for Vendetta final scene in London
In London, the protest started on Trafalgar Square and walked until Parliament Square, as planned.
Live picture. 8pm November 5th 2012, #Anonymous will march on Parliament peacefully in #London #OpVendetta #Nov5 twitpic.com/ban4cs
— Stun ☠ (@57UN) November 5, 2012
Walking to Parliament #5Nov #OpVendetta This is #EPIC twitter.com/AnonymouSkY/st…
— Anonymous SkY (@AnonymouSkY) November 5, 2012
Here is a sample of a video of the London march as they are slowly released on Youtube:
Estimates of participation vary from hundreds to thousands.
According to RT’s article “‘Remember, Remember’: Anonymous marks November 5 with hacks, protests” as well as to a participant around two hundreds people gathered at Trafalgar Square:
Around 200 #Anonymous supporters assemble in Trafalgar Square for #Nov5 #OpVendetta before march to parliament. twitpic.com/ban2jw
— Stun ☠ (@57UN) November 5, 2012
However, some underline this figure as an underestimation, using the picture of the march to Parliament above.
Occupy, for itself, gives the following figures:
Protesters in London saying 1,500-2,000 protesters #OWS #opvendetta
— OccupyPhoenix (@occupyphoenix) November 5, 2012
By comparison, the protest organised in Washington DC, for example, was much less successful, according to recorded livestream (by USTREAM), which, considering the specific day chosen – typically linked to English history – and different circumstances in the two countries, may not be surprising.
#OpVendetta and Analytics
Meanwhile, what happened on social networks, or more specifically on twitter?
The number of tweets, using Kred and the related analytics by PeopleBrowsr (the analytics are, by the way, extremely useful, easy to use and beautifully displayed) skyrocketed. Using as simple query #OpVendetta, you have the results below, counting 27660 Tweets for November 2012 and 21033 Retweets, most of them on 5 November 2012, with a rather positive sentiment. The location of the tweets is also interesting, with a strong participation in the UK and the US (see also the US share according to States), in Commonwealth countries and in Europe.
Was it a success and what to expect next?
I would assess that the operation was successful as it succeeded in moving from hacktivism mainly to a political protest in the real world, when it is so difficult to mobilise people. It also got coverage outside the cyber security world, notably on RT, according to the latter editorial line.
Is it enough to obtain the changes that were demanded, certainly not. However, history teaches us that political mobilization takes time and that obtaining political change is even harder. Thus, considering the overall grim outlook, my assessment is that the movement must be followed and is most likely to grow and to play an increasingly important part on the political scene.
