Westboro Baptist Church Arrives In Newtown, Hacktivist Group Anonymous Calls For Action (UPDATED)

Reports on Twitter have started flooding in that the Westboro Baptist Church has arrived in Newtown, Connecticut to picket the funerals of the Sandy Hook elementary school victims. The hashtag #Occupynewtown is appearing on twitter, with people opposed to the WBC joining forces to combat the message that Shirley Phelps-Roper tweeted, stating the group would be in Newtown to “sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment.”

Hacktivist group Anonymous has tweeted their own call to action:

The collective thought is that protesters against the WBC need to link arms and form a protective barrier against the mourners so they can lay the children to rest in peace.

I can’t imagine how painful it must be to bury a child, and I can’t imagine how horrific it must be to try and say goodbye to someone you love so dearly with a chorus of “God hates fags” in the background. If this is true, and the Westboro Baptist Church is actually in town to add pain and suffering to an already heartbreaking situation, our consolation is that there will be people there to counteract the hate with love.

Anonymous has confirmed the WBC is in town and where exactly the hotel they are staying at is located, but no actual news if they have started picketing yet. I’m sure we will have updates to follow, but in the meantime you can sign the petition to get the WBC classified as a hate group here. 

No matter what your political or religious affiliation, whether or not you are pro or anti-gun, I think the majority of us are terribly saddened by the loss of these children. It’s only fair that the families get to mourn them in peace and not have their grief exploited in the name of protesting homosexuality. I don’t understand the logic behind this sort of behavior, and I hope that this is just another false threat by this group. If it isn’t, at least there will be people there to protect the families and loved ones of these victims who have already suffered so much.
Rebekah Phelps-Davis, daughter of Fred Phelps, made this update to her Twitter account:

Stating the WBC’s intention of picketing the visitation of Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, who died while protecting the children from Adam Lanza on Friday.

(photo: twitter)