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Dressed in black, faces covered, members of Antifa are the self-appointed enemies of the far-right.
During the protests and counter-protests that marked the 10-year anniversary of the Cronulla riots on Saturday, Antifa members carrying red, black and white flags emblazoned with the words Antifaschistische Aktion clashed with anti-Islam protesters.
A woman draped in an Australian flag was surrounded by 20 to 30 Antifa members who shouted at her to "take that fascist flag off now".
Antifa, or anti-fascists, are a loose collection of socialists and anarchists, anti-racists and small-l liberals.
Antifaschistische Aktion is the name of a German anti-fascist organisation that reportedly has its roots in the German communist party in 1932, and was dissolved in 1933 by the Nazis and resurfaced in the 1980s in Europe as a response to resurgent right-wing groups.
Today the hard-left group is transnational, and part of hard-left common at the protests that usually mark G20 and other global leader summits in Europe.
In Australia members or self-professed members of the group have become an increasingly common sight at rallies organised to oppose the far-right protests held by groups like the United Patriots Front and Reclaim Australia.
Antifa Australia's Facebook page has as its most recent post on November 17: "These deranged far-right scum want to damage society and bring everyone down. If the Authorities won't stop hate speech, the leftist community will now need to implement their own authority via grassroots action."
It describes itself as the "militant Left-Wing", and in October wrote on Facebook that "a war ... will break out in Cronulla when the far-right hold their rally".
"We are one against the racists and their masters of the rich Australian ruling class," the post read.
Antifa's Wordpress website lists its goals as opposing fascism, as well as to "defend the working class and their organisations from fascist attack".
In keeping with the groups historical links to socialism, it also paints itself as anti-capitalist.
Members of Antifa in Australia have deliberately remained anonymous.
That's despite attempts by opposing groups to out some of its most outspoken Australian advocates such as Andy Fleming, a pseudonym used by a Melbourne-based anti-fascist who runs a blog called slackbastard that tracks the far-right movement.
