ORLANDO, Fla.,None — What started as a small protest over feeding the homeless in downtown Orlando has taken on a life of its own.
Computer hackers and copycat groups are now waging war against the city. Wednesday, a new group was at Orlando City Hall protesting against the city and the ordinance they said targets the homeless.
"Today we're serving vegan oatmeal and grapes," said Dante John Terminello, Vegan Mafia representative.
Food Not Bombs now has competition. The Vegan Mafia set up in front of City Hall on Wednesday with Orlando police waiting to see if they would feed more than 25 people, which violates city ordinance. But they never got enough homeless people in the line.
WFTV correspondent Daralene Jones spoke with Terminello. "This seems crazy to me. You're out here trying to get arrested?"
"We'll, we're not trying to get arrested but obviously this is a bad law," said Terminello.
To make matters worse, the city received an e-mail from the computer hacker group Anonymous, threatening to wreak havoc on city websites everyday because the city refused to "cease and desist from arresting the members of Food Not Bombs for feeding hungry people."
Universal Orlando's website was hit along with Mayor Dyer's re-election campaign site. The FBI and Orlando police are investigating. 'Anonymous' is the same group that claimed responsibility for hacking websites last year in support of Wikileakes.
"You know, if you stop these feedings they'll probably stop hacking sites around the city?" asked Jones.
"I believe if the city drops the ordinance they'll probably stop too," said Terminello.
The city has received thousands of e-mails and calls about the homeless feeding issue. The majority of those who live in the city support arresting the groups, as well as pushing the homeless to use one of five shelters that offer three meals everyday.