French riots: Who are the Black Bloc?
The Government says agitators from the ultra left helped transform peaceful protests into riots.
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Clad in all black and with faces covered, ultra-left agitators are blamed by officials for transforming peaceful protests into widespread looting.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Leila Abboud
Clad in all black and with faces covered, they come to fight the police and destroy symbols of capitalism and the state. Some specialise in dislodging paving stones to use as projectiles, others in bringing fireworks and Molotov cocktails – a division of labour that suggests some level of organisation.
These are the tactics adopted by what the French government calls “ultra-left” agitators, also known as the “Black Bloc”, whom they accuse of helping to transform nationwide peaceful protests over the weekend into widespread rioting and looting.