Anonymous hits Greek government sites as austerity plan passes

Hürriyet Daily News with wires

Anonymous announced the attacks on its Twitter account.

Numerous Greek government websites became inaccessible yesterday as hacker group Anonymous claimed responsibility for taking them down.

The websites for the Greek police department, prime minister's office and the parliament became inaccessible minutes after an unpopular austerity plan was passed in the Greek Parliament.

A member of Anonymous announced the attack on the collective's Twitter account. "TANGO DOWN: http://www.primeminister.gov.gr/" and "TANGO DOWN: Greek Police website" read two tweets as the said websites were rendered inaccessible to Internet users. "Tango down" is an expression used by the US Special Forces when they have eliminated an enemy.

Hackers had brought down the Greek justice ministry's website last week and replaced the official site with a video recording showing a man in a Guy Fawkes mask who said, "You have joined the IMF against your people's acquiescence ... democracy was given birth in your country but you have killed it."

REUTERS photo

The Greek parliament approved yesterday a deeply unpopular austerity bill to secure a second bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund and avoid a messy default.

Before the parliamentary vote, serious violence broke out on the streets Athens and spread to other Greek towns and cities, including on the holiday islands of Corfu and Crete, Reuters reported.

The bill sets out 3.3 billion euros ($4.35 billion) in wage, pension and job cuts for this year alone.

Greece, hacking,