Hactivist collective Anonymous threatened Westboro Baptist Church on Monday over the fringe hate group’s decision to protest the funerals of the Boston Marathon explosion victims.
The two groups have duked it out in the past, most recently when the Topeka, Kansas-based church threatened to picket the funerals of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims in December.
In response to Sandy Hook, Anonymous mobilized thousands of people to form a counter protest. While Westboro Baptist Church members did make their way to Newtown, Connecticut, they never appeared at any funerals.
Along with forming counter protests, Anonymous also hacked into Westboro’s sensitive information and Twitter accounts. They posted all of the group’s personal information online and took over Twitter accounts in a show of support for the Newtown victims.
This round between Anonymous and Westboro Baptist Church started before emergency responders even left the scene at Boston’s bloodstained Copley Square. The oft-deemed hate group immediately blamed Massachusetts for the bombing, saying their gay marriage laws called condemnation on them from God.
In an almost expected move, the group followed up their initial response by tweeting:
“BREAKING: Westboro Baptist Church to picket funerals of those dead by Boston Bombs! GOD SENT THE BOMBS IN FURY OVER F-G MARRIAGE! #PraiseGod.”
The announcement was met with resistance by Anonymous, as well as citizens around the country. The immediate response from Boston residents appeared to be along the lines of, “Try it.” One of the hacktivist collective’s accounts, @YourAnonNews, responded by saying:
Dear @ wbcsays , I wouldn’t fuck with the people of Boston when they’re mad. #BostonBeatDown
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) April 16, 2013
If #WBC protests the Boston funerals, they will have to expect us.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) April 15, 2013
But it appeared that the Westboro Baptist Church wasn’t intimidated by Anonymous. The group responded by saying:
“@ youranonnews : Dear @ wbcsays , I wouldn’t f- w/ Boston #BostonBeatDown “Keep up, YAN! #GodSentTheBomber #TruthNeeded twitter.com/WBCsigns/statu…
— Westboro Baptist (@WBCSays) April 16, 2013
Do you think Westboro Baptist Church will show up in Boston?
[Image via JCWilmore ]