- Local Name: Action Directe Anarchiste
- Transliteration: N/a
- Alternatives: N/a
- Status: 2020 – 2020 (Dormant)
- Conflicts: Anarchist Militancy in France
The Anarchist Direct Action [ADA; Action Directe Anarchiste] was a French left-wing extremist militant outfit active on the outskirts of Nantes in the spring and summer of 2020. It was apparently based in the suburb of Bouguenais. The ADA stood apart from other French anarchist entities because it clearly attempted to launch a sustained campaign of militant action. The group targeted companies over their supposed mistreatment of workers, immigrants and the poor, alleged disregard for the environmental damage caused by their activities and collaboration with the state.
The ADA first appeared in late March when its members sprayed insults and slogans on the walls of businesses, a church and public buildings in Bouguenais.1 On Apr. 07, 2020, they smashed windows at two real estate agencies and an ophthalmologist in the town before burning a trailer of the Eiffage public works company later that month. The ADA claimed responsibility for the acts in statements posted on an anarchist website, but they were not picked up by the French press.
The ADA stepped up operations on May 01, 2020 when it destroyed two vehicles of the postal service in an attack on the Bouguenais mail sorting facility.2 The outfit claimed the incident and the attack received some coverage in the press. The ADA was later behind the May 21 burning of five vehicles of the Engie energy company in Bouguenais and the Jul. 12 destruction of six vans of the JCDecaux publicity corporation in an arson attack in nearby Saint-Herblain.3 Both incidents were claimed by the group in separate statements. Following the July 2020 action, the outfit disappeared.
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