Screenshot of Anonops.blogspot.com

After Spain's national police arrested three hackers allegedly linked to Anonymous and the Sony PlayStation Network hacks, the amorphous collective claims to have successfully taken the agency's site offline in retaliation.

According to a Saturday posting on AnonOps Communications, "Operation Policia (#OpPolicia) is the name for the successful DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack that paralyzed the Official National Police website (Página Oficial del Cuerpo Nacional de Policía www.policia.es) for hours on Saturday, making it inaccessible to visitors. The DDoS attack is a protest tactic often deployed by Anonymous."

The daily newspaper El Mundo reported Sunday that the police site had been offline for about an hour the previous day and that police were still investigating the cause.

Following the announcement of the arrests on Friday, Anonymous issued a statement condemning them and foreshadowing the attack on the National police site:

Arresting somebody for taking part in a DDoS attack is exactly like arresting somebody for attending a peaceful demonstration in their hometown. Anonymous believes this right to peacefully protest is one of the fundamental pillars of any democracy...

You have not detained three participants of Anonymous. We have no members and we are not a group of any kind. You have, however, detained three civilians expressing themselves...

You are providing us with the fuel, but now you must expect the fire.