

I would say there is a difference between leftists in the US and in Europe, although there are certainly overlaps. For example, I haven’t seen anything in the US comparable to the scenes during the G20 protests in Hamburg or the 01st May demonstrations in Berlin and Connewitz.
On the other hand, we can ask the question: what exactly is a „leftist"? We can ask the same about „right-wingers." Is someone who follows communist ideas necessarily a leftist? Some people would say yes, others would disagree. Likewise, some people might consider a conservative to be right-wing, while others would see them as simply conservative. So, both the left and the right exist on a spectrum, which can make labels difficult to define precisely.
However, I used the term „leftist" in my previous comment because Paris has a large and influential left-wing community. As far as I know, Lyon is - as a counterexample - generally more conservative and there I never came across such scenes like in the clip from Paris. But perhaps some French users can correct me if I’m mistaken.





The father of a classmate supposedly did business in Russia during the 1990s and, according to my classmate, witnessed an execution beneath a bridge somewhere in Moscow late in the evening. I don’t remember a name of the bridge, and I can’t verify whether the story was true. However, he was completely serious when telling it, and I do remember hearing media reports about organized crime killings and similar incidents in Russia during the chaotic post-Soviet years. So while I can’t confirm this particular story, it doesn’t sound impossible for that period.