Hacktivist Group Anonymous Issues Call to Hotel Petaluma Owner

The hacktivist group Anonymous has gotten involved in the Hotel Petaluma debate, issuing a chilling call to the owner to stop evicting tenants and help displaced residents find new housing.

In a YouTube video posted Thursday, a computer generated image of an activist wearing the trademark Guy Fawkes mask reads a statement aimed at Terence Andrews, who purchased Hotel Petaluma last year.

Watch the video here

Andrews initially said that he was simply renovating the downtown hotel and promised to not evict residents, then reversed course and issued notices in February, saying that he was converting the property to a short-term stay hotel.

That led to a public outcry and has become a cause célèbre for local Occupy activists.

“You have shown no remorse for this tragic situation and instead resorted to threatening the remaining tenants who have dared to stand up to you,” says the masked spokeswoman in the video.

“You have disregarded the requests of the people and continue to operate for your own selfish gain. The only thing you care about is money. Human life is of no consequence to you. You stand for greed, violence and poverty.”

The speaker then calls on Andrews to respond by Sunday April 14, the same day local Occupy activists have planned a rally at Penry Park, and to help tenants find new housing and return security deposits.

A call to Andrews Thursday evening, including a message sent via his after-hours answering service, was not immediately returned.

As a private owner, Andrews has the right to do what he wants with the property, so long as he gives tenants either 30 or 60 day notice as required by law. But because Hotel Petaluma has for years housed many people on a fixed income, including many disabled people and the formerly homeless, the decision to evict more than 100 residents has hit a nerve in the community.

Carl Patrick, a member of the Sonoma County Solidarity Network, an offshoot of Occupy Santa Rosa, said the group did not reach out to Anonymous, but that the “hacktivists” found out about Hotel Petaluma through Facebook.

“It’s cool that they’ve taken some interest in this,” Patrick said.

Anonymous is a loosely organized network of cyber activists around the world who in recent months have hacked some high profile sites, including the Department of Justice, to protest the death of open source activist Aaron Swartz who the agency was prosecuting, the Syrian government, the Israeli army and the Church of Scientology, to name a few.

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