Gas canister attacks are extremely common in Greece.  Groups are usually comprised of a few determined individuals and rarely contain any institutional hierarchy.  Claims of responsibility usually contain stock language against the government, capitalism, and Greek security forces (as was the case with Anarchist Collective).  <P><br /><br />Calls for solidarity with political prisoners or other like-minded criminals are also common.  As such, Anarchist Collective can be considered a typical Greek anarchist group.  Members of the outfit will likely be responsible for further low-level violence, either under their original moniker or with other similar organizations.  Greeks groups are notorious for carrying out one attack, folding, and re-emerging under different names.<br />

The first attack claimed by the Anarchist Faction was the December 1999 bombing of a car belonging to the South Korean embassy.  Embassy car bombings have become something of a specialty for the Anarchist Faction.  Since 1999, the Anarchist Faction has bombed cars belonging to the Jordanian, German, Lebanese, and Egyptian embassies, as well as the car of an Italian diplomat.  The Greek police have concluded that the bombings are not intended to express opposition to the policies of any one nation. The organization's focus on diplomats and embassies probably indicates that, much like other Greek terrorist groups, the Anarchist Faction is strongly opposed to globalization and Greece's increasing engagement with the rest of the world.  The Anarchist Faction is also strongly anti-capitalist.  They have claimed responsibility for attacking a bank branch and a car dealership, declaring that "capitalists are terrorists and robbers." (Associated Press, 9/22/2000)  The Department of State described the Anarchist Faction as one of Greece's two most prolific terrorist groups in 2000, but the organization has not claimed responsibility for an attack since September of that year.

The Anarchist Faction's main goal seems to be to increase visibility for socialist causes and to express solidarity with other socialists whom they view as persecuted.  The group often "dedicates" an attack to a particular person.   They have bombed in support of several imprisoned anarchists, including Kostas Kalaremas, Nikolas Maziotis, and Avraam Lesperoglou.  Anarchist Faction also declared that its March 2000 attack on a German Embassy car was in support of Nikolas Leonidis, an 18-year-old student shot to death in Salonika by the Greek police.  Many other groups have also committed acts of terrorism which they dedicated to the same individuals.  For example the Brass Knuckle Anarchist Punks, the Anarchist Group of Virona, Last Generation, and the Angry Brigade have all attacked to show solidarity with Mikolas Maziotis.