{"id":14135,"date":"2026-11-06T11:12:49","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T11:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=14135"},"modified":"2026-11-06T11:12:49","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T11:12:49","slug":"nobody-can-stop-them-who-are-europes-black-bloc-protesters-protests-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=14135","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Nobody can stop them\u2019: Who are Europe\u2019s Black Bloc protesters? | Protests News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From France and Italy to Spain and Albania, a regular feature of European protest movements has been the presence of a few hundred young people fully dressed in black, often engaged in physical violence with law enforcement.<\/p>\n

They have been seen smashing public and private property and setting fire to cars and buildings, and are accused of break-ins and stealing consumer goods \u2013 anything from food to jewellery.<\/p>\n

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Known as the \u201cBlack Bloc\u201d, they have aggressive energy that can upend otherwise peaceful demonstrations by student groups and professional unions. While some say they bring attention to social, political, and economic inequalities, others condemn their violent methods, saying they distract from protesters\u2019 legitimate demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe movement started in the 1980s in Germany and came from a social movement called autonomia, or autonomy,\u201d political science professor Francis Dupuis-Deri, at the University of Quebec in Montreal, told Al Jazeera. \u201cThey were against the state, capitalism, political parties, even communists and unions. They were more or less anarchists. They believe in living outside the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dupuis-Deri, who has authored a book on Black Blocs, explained that the anarchists\u2019 idea was \u201csimple\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou wear black suits, which was a punk fashion at the time, black leather jackets and cotton hoodies, motorcycle helmets, sunglasses and bandanas. This was a way of making sure they could not be recognised by the police \u2026 There is no leadership, no hierarchy, no superstars, no spokesperson, no press statements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But he warned against associating the group with any political ideology, left or right, as there have been episodes of right-wing nationalist and neo-Nazi groups in Poland and Germany using Black Bloc attire and violent tactics, although not in recent years.<\/p>\n

\"PARIS,
A woman looks at a billboard that was vandalised by Black Bloc activists during May Day demonstrations on May 01, 2022, in Paris, France [Sam Tarling\/Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

France has for weeks seen mass student and union demonstrations and is grappling with a high level of violence and property damage.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera contacted the office of a left-wing French member of the European Parliament (MEP), whose party has organised and supported recent nationwide rallies, about the black-clad protesters. But they said the issue was too sensitive to discuss.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few cases of violence are used by the government to criminalise our movement and our party, so we don\u2019t want to enter the strategy of speaking about it,\u201d said a person who was not authorised to speak officially on behalf of his elected official.<\/p>\n

Italy has also witnessed violence in Rome, Milan, and Turin, with people clashing with police, setting bins and cars on fire, and in some cases causing extensive property damage and injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, I\u2019m not aware of any movement inspired by the Black Blocs,\u201d said Mario Furore, an Italian member of the European Parliament from the Five Star Movement. \u201cIn Milan, there have been incidents of looting and vandalism, and those responsible appear to have been very young, many of them minors.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, this looks more like copycat behaviour and the influence of bad role models than the work of an organised network. However, it will be up to the judicial authorities investigating the incidents to establish the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LEIPZIG,
Black bloc leftist demonstrators in June 2023 stand corralled by police during \u2018Day X\u2019 protests in Leipzig, Germany, when protesters took to the streets despite a ban on their planned gathering, demanding freedom for a demonstrator sentenced to five years in prison for organising assaults against neo-Nazis in Saxony and Thuringia [Sean Gallup\/Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Black Bloc is not a homogeneous or organised movement with any known leadership or structure. It is also politically somewhat irrelevant because governments and law enforcement groups associate the groups with social protests, whether they are \u201ccopycats\u201d or genuine.<\/p>\n

Dupuis-Deri said the lack of organisational structure allows members to find each other quickly based on their attire, but they also congregate through word of mouth and form relationships over several demonstrations.<\/p>\n

Mobility is a key feature of the movement.<\/p>\n

While European governments have not publicised information on the recent demonstrations, Black Blocs are known for having crossed borders in the past to participate in demonstrations in other countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have a membership roster, so no one really knows how many they are. Intelligence services number them around 5,000-7,000 in Europe, with a few hundred showing up in each demonstration,\u201d said Dupuis-Deri.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody can stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Black Blocs come to smash things\u2019<\/h2>\n

Speaking in Parliament in January, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez referenced the group, saying: \u201cToday, at every social demonstration of any significant size, we find Black Blocs who come to smash things and attack the internal security forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2023 Italian government document on advanced training for police described the group, its aims, and tactics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the aim of inciting vandalism and violence by infiltrating \u2013 and subsequently radicalising \u2013 demonstrations, the 1980s also saw the consolidation of a persistent anarcho-insurrectionist tactic: the use of small, loosely organised groups known as the \u2018black bloc\u2019,\u201d the document said.<\/p>\n

\"LEIPZIG,
Black bloc leftist demonstrators clash with police during \u201cDay X\u201d protests on June 03, 2023 in Leipzig, Germany [Sean Gallup\/Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It added that they conduct reconnaissance of target locations well in advance of the planned unrest, dividing these areas into sectors assigned to specific teams, and execute diversionary tactics \u201ccarried out by one or more teams to draw the attention of law enforcement away from other groups, which are then free to carry out disruptive or destructive acts\u201d.<\/p>\n

The report said the Black Bloc has a \u201chigh degree of mobility\u201d to maximise potential damage while minimising the risk of activists being arrested.<\/p>\n

Before the recent demonstrations in Europe, perhaps the best-known Black Bloc performances were during the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle, the United States, in 1999, and the June 2016 nationwide demonstrations in France against the Loi Travail or labour law.<\/p>\n

In both cases, there were confrontations with police, with hundreds injured and arrested.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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From France and Italy to Spain and Albania, a regular feature of European protest movements has been the presence of a few hundred young people fully dressed in black, often engaged in physical violence with law enforcement. They have been seen smashing public and private property and setting fire to cars and buildings, and are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t