A police snitch is said to have infiltrated far-left and ecological groups in France, Germany and Belgium for over three years. At times, he was in contact with his handlers on a daily basis.
For at least three years, a snitch is said to have operated within various far-left contexts in France. This is stated by activists in a detailed dossier, compiled after examining the mobile phone of the guy, who is said to have been born in November 2001. According to the findings, he allegedly passed on extensive sensitive information to police officers under different aliases such as ‘Momo’, ‘molo’ or ‘zer0’. His nationality is not mentioned, but he reportedly has an insecure residency status.
Apparently, his handlers were the police – though no proof of this has been provided. The title of the dossier also mentions the French domestic secret service DSGI, which is under the Interior Ministry. In France, unlike in Germany, there is no strict separation between police and secret services; their cooperation is far closer.
It is assumed that the man was not an official employee of an agency but a snitch recruited from within left-wing movements. His reports included both operational political planning and personal data such as residency status, nationalities and private living circumstances of activists. He reportedly labelled some of the information with flags for LGBTQI or Turkey.
The dossier speculates that ‘Momo’ agreed to collaborate after being placed under pressure following an arrest. He might have been confronted by police with video evidence of crimes he had committed, then threatened with prison or even deportation detention. In exchange for his cooperation, he was supposedly promised not only a residence permit but also cash, payments for rent, train tickets, medication and education.
In addition to his intensive surveillance activity in France – in particular in Paris, in the anti-nuclear protest location Bure and during the uprisings of ‘Soulèvements de la Terre’ – the snitch was also active in Germany. Just a few weeks ago, he is said to have attended the ‘Anarchist Barrio’ at the ‘Disarm Rheinmetall!’ camp in Cologne. He also apparently informed his handlers about a camp against the arms manufacturer Elbit planned for the third week of September in Ulm, in southern Germany. The dossier also reports on a mission in Belgium. Accordingly, he is said to have passed on information about activists from Berlin and Athens as well.
‘He appeared irregularly at meetings, took no responsibility, but was always at the front during actions,’ the dossier continues. Before the snitch was exposed, there had reportedly already been concrete suspicions among other activists. He was then placed under observation and confronted. ‘At this meeting it was possible to look at his phone,’ the dossier states – though it remains unclear whether ‘Momo’ handed over the device voluntarily. It reportedly contained chat histories with five different police officers, dating back to March 2022. He is then said to have ‘confessed very quickly’.
Some of the revealed chat logs have been published in the dossier as screenshots. Communication ran via the messaging services Telegram and WhatsApp, with the main chat bearing the title ‘Amigo’. The officers’ questions focused on planned actions and supposed ringleaders, including the 1 May 2025 protests in Paris and demonstrations against the annual neo-Nazi march on 9 May in the capital. Meetings with officers reportedly took place every two days, and around major actions even daily.
The exposure in France recalls the German LKA officer Simon Bromma, the Austrian agent ‘Danielle Durand’, and the British policeman Mark Kennedy, who in the 2010s also infiltrated left-wing movements abroad under cover identities. As police officers, they needed authorisation from the respective state for border crossings and any subsequent action in foreign territory. For snitches working for police or intelligence services, however, the rules are more relaxed – for instance, in Germany they do not require permission to enter a private home.
‘The use of snitches in our movements has unfortunately become an everyday reality,’ the French dossier states. It ends with a clear message: ‘Strength to us, fire to the snitches!’
Published in German in ‘nd’.
Image: Protests in Bure 2021 (Luc Śkaille).
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