How do you assess the transnational dimension of the left-wing extremist threat and what measures do you intend to take to strengthen cooperation between Member States in combating these networks through Europol? is the first question of the written answer question presented on 6 February by Susanna Ceccardi, MEP of the League. The second question to the EU Commission is “what initiatives are planned to monitor and counter the use of digital platforms by these groups for the purposes of propaganda, coordination and planning of violent actions?”. The question is inspired by the latest report, TE-SAT 2025, by Europol, the European Union agency aimed at fighting crime and terrorism in the territory of the member states, which “highlights how Italy was the main theater of attacks attributed to the far left”.
Ceccardi underlines in the question that «the phenomenon has a transnational dimension characterized by the operation beyond the borders of networks of antagonistic, autonomous and anarchist militants, by structured forms of solidarity between prisoners and by the intensive use of digital platforms for the coordination of actions and the sharing of tactics and strategies». A network of thugs that is based on the Antifa nebula and emerges with very serious episodes such as in France the fatal beating of the right-wing militant Quentin Deranque in Lyon, or the clashes between the police and Askatasuna in Turin. In Germany “left-wing extremists commit criminal and violent crimes almost every day”, according to the Bfv, Germany’s domestic intelligence.
A European emergency, as well as a global one considering that the paternity of the violence in the United States has also seen a reversal of trend: research by the Center for Strategic and International Studies revealed that in the first half of 2025 “attacks by left-wing extremists exceeded far-right violence for the first time in more than three decades”.
And from us? The Europol report, read by Panorama, raises the alarm: in 2024 there were 21 far-left terrorist attacks, 18 of which in Italy. The arrests, 28, are increasing compared to 2023 and 2022. About twenty anarchists and antagonists ended up in handcuffs in Greece and 6 in our country. In comparison, attacks by extreme right-wing fringes dropped to just one case in Montello (Bergamo), in 2024, with a fire at the entrance to an Islamic center. In 2022 there were 4 compared to the 21 far left in the latest Europol survey (right-wing arrests were 47).
«Violent left-wing and anarchist extremists have maintained an established international network, frequently traveling across European countries to participate in demonstrations, international mobilizations and solidarity actions, often strengthening ties through meetings, events and fairs dedicated to left-wing or anarchist causes. These transnational connections facilitate the sharing of strategies and support for incarcerated or deceased comrades”, denounces Europol. Not only that: «The links between groups/cells and individuals are based on ideological affinity and the principle of “solidarity”. This is particularly evident among groups in Greece, Italy, Spain, Argentina and Chile, where they respond to calls for mobilization online and adapt their propaganda to support transnational campaigns.”
One of the Italian pieces of the European network, especially with the French neighbors where the high-speed train departs, is strengthened every summer at the High Happiness Festival in Venaus, Piedmont, where protests and clashes began twenty years ago with the cover of the mayors of the valley which still exists today. Last summer Patrick Zaki and Ilaria Salis were invited. For the sabotage of the railway lines claimed by anarchist-insurrectionist sites such as Nemesi and Sottobosko, they refer to the same type of attacks for the inauguration of the Paris Olympics.
Our intelligence admits that «there could be a connection with France in the sabotage of railway lines. And it is demonstrated by various elements who arrived from beyond the Alps to participate in the latest violent clashes in Askatasuna in Turin.” The Digos data after the violence of January 31st speak clearly: 54 foreigners identified, including 35 French, 3 Turks, 2 Swiss, 2 Spaniards, one Slovenian, two Moroccans, one Nepalese, one Mexican and others.
In Europe, over 400 attacks attributable to left-wing extremism were recorded between 2000 and 2023, with Greece, Italy and Spain most affected in the EU. In our country there are no longer any hesitations about advocating violent subversion. On February 15th on Fuori dal coro, on Rete 4, Andrea De Marchi of the national direction of the Support Committees for the Resistance for Communism (Carc) did not mince his words. «We need to organize ourselves to take this country into our own hands by every necessary and possible means and make it ungovernable», he declared, «Turin is a starting point for a new struggle, for new, more advanced objectives». And on the policeman beaten during the clashes he replies: “He said something bad to a Rambo.”
It is no coincidence that the United States has included the Italian Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front (FAI/FRI) in the blacklist of European terrorist organizations of “violent Antifa groups”.
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, accused them “of revolutionary anarchist or Marxist ideologies, including anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism and anti-Christianity.” One of the key figures of the Fai/Fri is Alfredo Cospito, the anarchist in maximum security prison. The Greeks of Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense are also included in the list. Greece, as the Europol 2025 report highlights, is one of the hottest bases for left-wing extremism. The counter-terrorism squad defeated the terrorist organization Revenge Association, also arresting two soldiers from the army and navy, as well as criminals from organized crime “who received compensation for participating in the attacks”. The battles adopted in Greece and developed in half of Europe concern «solidarity with the Palestinian people, with the Kurdish cause, with the situation in Lebanon, as well as particular attention to migratory, environmental and climate problems». Despite the weakening of historical formations, such as November 17, the baton has been passed to fragmented, “second generation” far-left groups.
Online platforms are used to recruit new followers, but Europol reveals that «in 2024, artificial intelligence for the creation of propaganda was reported for the first time in anarchist and far-left fields».
The deputy of indomitable France, Raphaël Arnault, founder of the Jeune garde, has two assistants arrested for the brutal killing of the young right-winger in Lyon. Arnault, before entering Parliament, published alarming photos of masked young people on social media. On February 19, 2023 on Instagram, with other images of new “recruits”, he claimed: «In Lyon, but also in Paris this weekend, sports and self-defense training of the Jeune garde took place», complete with red boxing gloves and crossed swords. Two years later the group was dissolved by the government, but in reality the squadristi are still active, as demonstrated by the murderous security service in Lyon. One of the leaders, Hamma Alousseini, immortalized with Arnault, is the Islamic bond with the far left. Former Olympique de Marseille supporter praised the cutthroats of Boko Haram and “justified” the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty by a Chechen jihadist.
Germany’s internal intelligence services claim that “more than one in four left-wing extremists can be classified as violent.” Anarchists, autonomous, rooted in Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig, and the old Marxist-Leninists and Trotskyists. On the intelligence website we read that «the violence of left-wing extremists, especially in the context of the “anti-fascist struggle”, but also when it targets the police, there is great brutality, accompanied by a targeted and professional modus operandi. Several crimes have demonstrated that left-wing extremists accept the risk of inflicting potentially lethal injuries.” A study by the Westpoint anti-terrorism center gives an x-ray of the Hammer Gang founded by Lina Engel and her partner Johann Guntermann, who organized the targeted beatings in Budapest in 2023. Ilaria Salis was arrested for these facts and then elected to the European Parliament. “Some elements of the network continue to be active,” they write, “with several members at large and authorities concerned about further radicalization.”
