'Anonymous' plans for 'violent revolution'

The hackers known as "Anonymous," who helped organize and support the Occupy movement's protests, have released an online survivor guide for citizens "in case of a violent revolution in your country."

The guide warns protests can be a "bloody mess." It trains rioters on how to avoid tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition.

The 15-page PDF document claims police will not help protesters and may actually be enemies of the revolution while warning that protest groups may be infiltrated by "fake civilians."

The Anonymous survival guide was published just before the hacker group claimed Sunday to have stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to clients of U.S.-based security think tank Stratfor.

"Red Army: The Radical Network that must be defeated to save America" exposes the extremists behind Occupy Wall Street along with the radical socialist network that seized political power in Washington over decades, shaped Obama's presidential agenda and threatens the very future of the U.S.

Anonymous has promised more infiltrations and hacker jobs, saying it has "enough targets lined up to extend the fun fun fun of LulzXmas through the entire next week."

The group previously claimed responsibility for attacks on major credit card and Internet companies. It has warned it may try to disrupt the U.S. and global banking infrastructure.

"This Guide is for civilians who feel they are about to be caught up in a violent uprising or revolution to overthrow the oppressive government of their country," begins the Anonymous survival kit.

"Although a revolution in favor of the people is a joyful thing when seen from the
outside, it can be a bloody mess for those inside it," continued the kit.

The survival guide was distributed for download this past weekend by Anonymous' assorted Twitter and Facebook pages.

The guide warned citizens to be wary of those in positions of authority, stating that "in a full scale revolution the police will not help you or may even be your enemy depending on the situation."

"Band together into small squads of known friends. That way you recognize infiltrators, like fake civilians, as was seen at the G20 summit in Canada," the guide continued.

The guide's index boasts 15 sections with such titles as "How to deal with violent riots;" "First aid kit;" "Food and water;" and "Your safety when confrontations are unavoidable."

Some of the guide's main suggestions for rioters include:

Don't panic, stay cool headed.
Take a break and rest if your body needs to relax, lack of sleep is a major weakening factor.
Avoid consuming mind altering substances like alcohol and drugs. They will cloud your judgment and ability to think and act rationally. You are also arming the regime with propaganda that the crowd is made up of a bunch of intoxicated rioters. Don't allow your movement to be portrayed in an unfavorable light.

The Anonymous guide urges citizens to find a secure water supply and purchase long-lasting foods such as canned goods, rice, dry grains, potatoes, noodles, dried pasta or lentils.

It suggests protesters arm themselves with cameras, including video phones, but warns those with recorders to "be covert because journalists are prone to be attacked."

The guide offers tips on how to avoid tear gas, including moving against the wind and wearing synthetic fibers. To deflect rubber bullets, the guide suggests the use of trash can lids as shields and skiing, motorcycle or motocross equipment to soften the impact.

In the event live ammunition is fired into the crowd the guide suggests an immediate retreat.

"In general the final stage of defense for a government is to use live ammunition against its citizens. If it is used the regime is nearing its end," the guide says.

Anonymous 'helped found Occupy'

Although Anonymous was founded several years before Occupy, the hacker group has been helping to organize and support the anti-Wall Street movement while evidencing Occupy ideology in its own literature.

Anonymous reportedly even helped found Occupy by setting up a secure site for a collaboration called A99, which first published a laundry list of demands in March that became the main gripes of Occupy.

That collaboration was initiated by activist David DeGraw with his 2010 book, "The Economic Elite vs. The People of the United States." Anonymous reportedly contacted DeGraw to help after his movement's site, then known as AmpedStatus.com, was repeatedly taken down by cyberattacks.

Anonymous has since pledged numerous times to aid Occupy, including with promises of flooding the central banking system, NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs.

The group even warned it would target the New York Police Department, claiming police brutality against protesters.

Wrote Anonymous on September 23: "We will constitute a declaration of war against the NYPD if the brutality does not stop. If we hear of brutality in the next 36 hours, then we will take you down from the Internet."

Anonymous took credit for several YouTube videos in support of Occupy, including one this past August promising it would mobilize 20,000 people in lower Manhattan.

Sean Captain, a reporter for Wired.com, summed up the goal of Anonymous: "To this day, the real role of anonymous is the same as it has been from the beginning – Publicize the Occupy Wall Street protests as much as possible."

Captain noted that AnonOps Communications, billing itself as "only dedicated to reporting news about Anonymous," has been covering virtually nothing but the Occupy protests since September 16. The protests also dominate the Anonymous site YourAnonNews.

With additional research by Brenda J. Elliott