• Local Name: Chauves-Souris Transmettant le Feu
  • Transliteration: N/a
  • Alternatives: N/a
  • Status: 2020 – 2020 (Disbanded)
  • Conflicts: Anarchist Militancy in France

The Fire-Transmitting Bats [CTF; Chauves-Souris Transmettant le Feu] was a French anarchist entity that was briefly active in the Isère department. It was one of the outfits that took part in a series of arson attacks on telecommunication relay stations around Grenoble on May 18, 2020.1 Hundreds of thousands of people were deprived of their internet, radio, telephone and television connections by the operation. The CTF was behind the arson attack on the relay tower at Jarrie, causing massive damage and putting the structure out of commission for several days.2 The following day, the outfit claimed responsibility for its part of the operation in a statement posted on left-wing extremist websites.3 The CTF denounced the dehumanizing omnipresence of technology and telecommunications that prevents people from having meaningful experiences.

The CTF was one of several militant entities that sprung from Grenoble’s violent anarchist scene and is thought to have been well-integrated in local left-wing extremist circles. It was clearly linked to the members of the Group of the Tour sans Venin [GTSV] with whom it cooperated to carry out the coordinated May 18, 2020 attacks. It is unclear whether the outfit was tied to the assailants who were responsible for an arson attack on the same facility in January 2019.4

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