“Remember, remember the Fifth of November.” For the fifth consecutive year in Washington, DC, youth of the hacktivist group Anonymous Legion did remember the Fifth of November, otherwise known as Guy Fawkes Day. They rallied wearing masks at the Washington Monument, marched to the White House, then made a cross-town jaunt to the U.S. Capitol.
Secret Service watched the iconic masked group through scopes as they gathered at the White House, and later, throngs of U.S. Capitol police met them at barricades as they arrived, barring them from ascending the white marble stairs.
Protesters also made an interim stop at the Department of Justice, where they chanted, “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” in tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement. They stopped at the Environmental Protection Agency and corporate headquarters of Monsanto, where they briefly replaced a U.S. flag with an Anonymous Legion flag, before police intervened to remove it. They also paused at the FBI Headquarters and later at the Federal Reserve.
Participants came from as far as Oregon, as well as from Florida, New York and many other states to protest a long list of issues and grievances–from economic to social justice, government surveillance, Wall Street corruption, wealth inequality, environmental concerns and food safety. Other concerns included Middle East Wars and militarized drone killings of civilians.
There were no spokespeople or leaders to articulate a single central message or take control of the action as it rippled unpredictably through the streets. District police rerouted traffic yet kept their distance. There were no arrests.
They came from many walks of life and demographics, calling out vestiges of power: corporate lobbies, the banks, police, government, and businesses. At several points they stopped to donate money and food to homeless they encountered.
Anonymous adopted the Guy Fawkes mask as its visual persona, a throwback to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. On November 5 of that year, Guy Fawkes led the failed Gun Powder plot to blow up the House of Lords. But the spirit of his defiance has been immortalized in annual rallies and protests since, working its way into a modern adaptation from the movie V For Vendetta. The mask was often worn during the Occupy movement in 2011, and still makes an appearance at many protests.
This year the November 5th Million Mask March was held in over 650 cities around the world. Washington, DC saw its largest showing of over 300 participants since it began in 2011.
