Twelve Face Trial for Far-Right Attack on Brest Café de la Plage

Twelve young men stand trial on Monday, November 16, at the court in Brest following the violent nocturnal raid on the Café de la plage.

Located at an angle of Guérin square, at the intersection of Massillon and Navarin streets, the Café de la plage is an alternative bar renowned as antifascist and frequented by members of the radical Breton left.

The punitive expedition struck the Guérin square just after midnight on Sunday, September 21, 2025. A masked commando of roughly 20 individuals stormed the terrace of the leftist establishment using tear gas, brass knuckles, batons, and baseball bats.

The chaotic assault lasted barely five minutes before the attackers fled on foot down Massillon street toward the Kerfautras parking lot. Four patrons sustained minor injuries during the violence, prompting seven formal complaints from customers and the venue’s two managers.

“There is no doubt,” said Antoine, one of the plaintiffs, describing the method to ICI Breizh Izel. “The mode of action, we’ve already seen it in other cities, we know how it goes. It’s a raid, it’s known. They shout ‘Brest natio’, they are all masked, we know right away.”

François Cuillandre, the Socialist mayor at the time, condemned the events the very day after as acts “apparently planned in advance and fomented by a far-right faction.”

Investigators attributed the raid to Talion Brest, a radical nationalist group that emerged in 2024 and expanded through 2025 by absorbing members of Section West, a group of Stade Brestois ultras excluded from the Celtic Ultras. Police sources indicate the faction grew from a small circle of friends into a hooligan network numbering 30 to 40 individuals seeking confrontation.

During subsequent searches, police recovered knives, balaclavas, baseball bats, iron bars, and an airsoft pistol. The twelve defendants appearing in court range in age from 21 to 30, with an average age of 25.

The suspects face correctional charges including armed participation in an assembly while voluntarily concealing their face, aggravated violence resulting in incapacitation not exceeding eight days, and group violence without incapacitation. The offenses carry a maximum penalty of five years in imprisonment.

“Maybe understand their motivations,” Antoine said regarding his expectations for the trial. “I don’t know if they will be very talkative, but it would be interesting to know what motivated them exactly, and whether some potentially regret it. We imagine convictions, well we hope so. Because it’s unthinkable that this can endure and start over.”