The funeral was held for Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz in Illinois on Tuesday without any protest from the Westboro Baptist Church thanks in part to the hacking group Anonymous.

The controversial church had announced plans to protest Swartz's open funeral on Sunday, citing the deceased internet activist's life as "an assault against God."

"Cyber criminals are the latest face of this nation's and this world's raging at God and His Servants at WBC," read the Westboro press release on Twitter. "Now the gloves are off, cyber rebels! ... We will picket the funeral, the LORD willing, so that in that Great Day of His Wrath, your blood is not on our hands."

A video was allegedly posted to YouTube by Anonymous who announced their plans to block the church's attempts to picket at Swartz's funeral.

"Before discussing the operation, there is something that needs to be said to Aaron's family and his friends: We're sorry," Anonymous stated in the video labeled as Operation Angel. "It is likely that our continuous condemnation and attacks against this cult is the very reason Aaron is being targeted by them. We would do anything to stop them from attending Aaron's services. Aaron deserves peace and we will not allow this cult to overpower what should be the media's focus, the monsters at DOJ who ruthlessly targeted your son."

The message from Anonymous may be linked to an absence of the members that were not present at the funeral, according to CNET.

The Westboro Baptist Church routinely protests at the funerals of deceased military members and are present whenever a tragedy strikes to picket the events, saying that God is punishing the world for not following the church's beliefs.

Swartz committed suicide in New York City on Jan. 11. In July 2011, the 26-year-old was charged with felony hacking. He was accused of stealing nearly 5 million academic articles from JSTOR, a popular online research outlet. He pled not guilty in September 2012 but was still facing a possible prison sentence.

Tags
Anonymous, Reddit, Hackers