Members of ‘Food Not Bombs’ arrested – Anonymous declares war on Orlando, Florida

Members of anti-hunger organization

‘Food Not Bombs’ arrested in Orlando

for providing free meals

to homeless and working poor

Since the beginning of June, more than twenty members of the anti-hunger organization Food Not Bombs (FNB) have been arrested in Orlando, Florida for the “crime” of providing free meals to the homeless and working poor.

Food Not Bombs has long been serving free, vegan food in Orlando’s public parks. That all changed last month, when the city began enforcing a 2006 ordinance limiting groups who feed more than twenty-five people in parks to only two permited events per year. Food Not Bombs unsuccessfully appealed the decision in federal court and its members are now refusing to obey the law.

A spokesman for the city says that FNB recipients have been responsible for trash, public urination and crime in city parks. The mayor of Orlando, Buddy Dyer, went even further, calling the organization’s members “food terrorists” and accusing the group of having “different purposes” than helping the homeless.



Food not Bombs has a champion – Anonymous

The hacker group Anonymous has entered the fray. It took down a tourist website in Orlando, as a protest against the arrests of the volunteers from FNB.

Anonymous has warned that more attacks could follow as part of what it has dubbed “Operation Orlando”.

In a news release, the hacker group promised to carry out a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) on a separate Orlando-related website every day until the arrests come to an end, choosing orlandofloridaguide.com as its first target.

The collective also said it will email millions of people across the world asking them to boycott the destination.

“This is a declaration of war,” said Anonymous, describing Operation Orlando.

“Anonymous will now begin a massive campaign against you and your city web assets,” it added in a message directed at Orlando officials.

Food Not Bombs will continue to defy the law.