Last updated: 11:15 GMT+1
Spanish Police have just released a screenshot dated May 18 showing a number of targets attacked by the Anonymous group, including Spain’s Central Electoral Board and the Police Corps website. You can see the screenshot here.
The Spanish Police have announced on Twitter the arrest of “three leaders of the Anonymous group in Spain.” These arrests have taken place in Barcelona, Alicante and Almeria. According to police sources, the alleged Anonymous members were decision makers and were involved in the recent attacks. Also, police agents have seized one of the servers used in many of the attacks in Gijon (Northern Spain).
First, I’d like to congratulate the Spanish police for the arrests. We are all glad to see law enforcement efforts finally paying off and stopping criminals from getting away with their crimes. However, I am very much afraid that the fact that the ‘main leaders of the Anonymous group’ in Spain are now under arrest does not mean the group will cease its activities. We must bear in mind that Anonymous is a highly anarchic organization with no strict hierarchy. I am sure these people have taken part in the attacks -as claimed by the police-, but there is no evidence that they are actually the leaders of the group. Remember that Anonymous makes decisions collectively and they normally set actions and objectives through forums and general voting.
We are very likely to see some kind of retaliation actions from Anonymous over the next few hours, as they are used to getting away with their actions and these arrests are surely very bad news for them