Anonymous: 'Occupy Wall Street' now in 30 U.S. cities

In a brief video published to YouTube this week, a masked member of hacktivist group "Anonymous" claimed the "99 percent" movement behind "Occupy Wall Street" has now spread to 30 U.S. cities ahead of a series of nation-wide actions.

"Everyone, everywhere, will be occupying their towns, their capitals and other public spaces," the protester said. "Already we have made tremendous progress. In just a little over a week, 'Occupy' initiatives have sprung up in over 30 U.S. cities.

"This is now bigger than you, or me. It is about us, a collective 99 percent that will no longer stand for the corruption, greed and inequality that is rampant in our governing bodies."

Federal authorities warned this week that "Anonymous," which has encouraged the protests but does not represent them, will likely use the protests as a motivation for continued cyber attacks on targets seen as antagonistic to the cause.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a prepared statements that Anonymous "will continue to exploit vulnerable publicly available web servers, computer networks and other digital information mediums for the foreseeable future."

In an opposing statement, Occupy Wall Street spokesman Patrick Burener told News Corp. paper The New York Post that the hackers stand "in solidarity with us, and they're nonviolent."

"They have legitimate grievances -- they have reasons to be upset with the way the Internet works -- but sometimes the way they put that out there isn't beneficial," he said.

"99 percent" activists in cities other than New York have begun calling their effort "Occupy Together." They're listing each city's planned protest on their website and offering a set of online tools to help others organize even more.

"What are our demands, you ask?" the Anonymous spokesman concluded in the group's latest video. "They are simple: they are the same as yours."

For a long list of the reasons why people are joining the "99 percent," read some of the posts on the group's Tumblr, where letters from the activists are being archived.