Saturday, November 05, 2011

Occupy Threat Center Finds Significant Increase In Threats And Calls For Violence And Vandalism

By Susan Duclos

I added a portion of this as an update to a previous post but after reading the entire thing further, it deserves space of it's own.

LitenLogic's Occupy Threat Center analyzes social media posts and their most recent findings range from a 25 percent increase in threats made by occupiers this week alone to increased calls for violence and vandalism.

They have elevated the threat risk to "high."

The ListenLogic Social Listening Intelligence Center (SLIC) today elevated the ‘Occupy’ threat advisory level for large U.S. corporations to “High” for the upcoming November 5th weekend. Ongoing ListenLogic analysis of several million online posts has identified a significant increase in support for key Occupy events during the November 5th weekend, as well as increases in:
  • Threats made by protesters, with a 25% increase during the past week alone; of the threats, nearly 70% target police. The other most commonly targeted groups include: politicians (10%), corporate executives (8%), and reporters (3%).
  • Interest in online Occupy videos depicting acts of violence, destruction, and/or arrest activity. Over 80% of Occupy-related videos viewed on YouTube for the 30-day period ending November 4th include such acts.
  • Posts ‘by’ protestors who have been actively involved in marches stating that they will avoid weekend activity because of the potential for violence or harm.
  • Calls for violent action, flash mobs, and vandalism


More:

Currently, there are over one million posts per day online regarding the Occupy movement. ListenLogic analyzed this social media activity to identify events of growing popularity and concern set to take place during the November 5th weekend. These include:

  • Bank-Focused Flash Mobs: Occupy protesters are organizing flash mobs to convene at branch banks in the U.S. and Canada beginning the afternoon of November 4th. While officially deemed, “Dance on the Banks,” increases in bank-related arrests, as well as vandalism of bank signs, windows, and ATM’s suggest that mob activity may turn violent.
  • Nov. 5Bank Transfer Day/Move Your Money Day: Designed to encourage people to switch their accounts from “big” banks to local credit unions. On Facebook alone, over 75,000 users have joined related Facebook groups. Marches to bank branches are being organized throughout the U.S.
  • Nov. 5 Guy Fawkes Day/Bonfires Day: Annual commemoration of anarchist Guy Fawkes’ plot to blow up the English parliament. Guy Fawkes masks are used by Occupy protesters to symbolize anarchist intentions and, more recently, to maintain anonymity while being destructive. Occupy protesters with anarchist intentions are planning bonfires in city streets throughout the country.
  • Nov. 5 Operation Foxhunt: Hacktivist group, “Anonymous” and others have threatened to shut down Fox News in support of the Occupy movement.

“The Occupy movement is now targeting a wider range of banks and corporations because of their high profile and/or geographic proximity to Occupy protests. November 5th has historically been an important date for anarchists worldwide because of its connection to Guy Fawkes and street bonfires. The addition of Bank Transfer Day, Operation Fox Hunt, Dance on the Banks, and several other activities has the potential to create a ‘perfect storm’ this weekend that could escalate into further hostility,” explained Vincent Schiavone, ListenLogic co-founder & chairman. “As ListenLogic continues to monitor this situation with a real-time SLIC for its clients, we feel it is necessary to elevate the threat level so that the public and all of corporate America are aware of the alarming social activity we are witnessing.”



Confirming their concerns, in the news today we see occupiers jumping in front of moving vehicles in a failed attempt to perpetuate mob violence, occupiers attempting to storm the Americans for Prosperity Foundation "Defending the American Dream" Summit, and an arrest of an occupier in Colorado in connection with a $10 million arson fire that damaged dozens of condominiums and businesses in Fort Collins, just to name a few examples.

This follows the publicized occupier riots in Oakland this week.

You can find all WuA's Occupier antics posts at the class warfare label page here.

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