‘Nobody can stop them’: Who are Europe’s Black Bloc protesters?

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 accused of break-ins and stealing consumer goods – anything from food to jewellery.

Known as the “Black Bloc”, 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’ legitimate demands.

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

Dupuis-Deri, who has authored a book on Black Blocs, explained that the anarchists’ idea was “simple”.

“You 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 … There is no leadership, no hierarchy, no superstars, no spokesperson, no press statements,” he said.

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.

France has for weeks seen mass student and union demonstrations and is grappling with a high level of violence and property damage.

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.

“A few cases of violence are used by the government to criminalise our movement and our party, so we don’t want to enter the strategy of speaking about it,” said a person who was not authorised to speak officially on behalf of his elected official.

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.

“Frankly, I’m not aware of any movement inspired by the Black Blocs,” said Mario Furore, an Italian member of the European Parliament from the Five Star Movement. “In Milan, there have been incidents of looting and vandalism, and those responsible appear to have been very young, many of them minors.

“To 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.”

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 “copycats” or genuine.

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.

Mobility is a key feature of the movement.

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.

“They don’t 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,” said Dupuis-Deri.

“Nobody can stop them.”

‘Black Blocs come to smash things’

Speaking in Parliament in January, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez referenced the group, saying: “Today, at every social demonstration of any significant size, we find Black Blocs who come to smash things and attack the internal security forces.”

A 2023 Italian government document on advanced training for police described the group, its aims, and tactics.

“With the aim of inciting vandalism and violence by infiltrating – and subsequently radicalising – demonstrations, the 1980s also saw the consolidation of a persistent anarcho-insurrectionist tactic: the use of small, loosely organised groups known as the ‘black bloc’,” the document said.

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 “carried 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”.

The report said the Black Bloc has a “high degree of mobility” to maximise potential damage while minimising the risk of activists being arrested.

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.

In both cases, there were confrontations with police, with hundreds injured and arrested.