Cyber army in online attack on government

Authorities in several mainland cities have been struggling to restore their websites after five days of attacks by international hacking group Anonymous as part of its new campaign to free the Chinese people.

Via a Twitter account opened in late March, Anonymous China announced that eight websites ending with 'gov.cn' had been hacked and defaced across the mainland.

The sites were left displaying a message to the Chinese government saying: 'All these years, the Chinese Communist government has subjected its people to unfair laws and unhealthy processes. You are not infallible. Today websites are hacked, tomorrow it will be your vile regime that will fall.

'Nothing will stop us, not your anger nor your weapons. You do not scare us, because you cannot be afraid of an idea.'

Affected sites included: Tongcheng Environmental Protection Bureau in Anhui province; the Chengdu Renmin Nanlu Central Business District; a website featuring population information for Weinan city, Shaanxi province; and the Mianyang Economic and Technological Development Area in Sichuan province.

Bei Feng, a Hong Kong-based internet analyst, said 'gov.cn' on websites generally indicated they belonged to Chinese government-related organisations.