The government of President Donald Trump, in the USA, designated four Antifa groups based in Europe as international terrorist organizations this Thursday (13), as announced by the State Department in an official statement. The decision classifies the entities as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” and “Specially Designated Global Terrorists”, which implies blocking of assets and criminal sanctions for those who provide support to their members.
According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the decision “continues President Trump’s historic commitment to eradicate Antifa’s campaign of political violence.” In a post on X, Rubio stated that the US “will continue to use all available tools to protect the nation from these anti-American, anti-capitalist and anti-religious groups.”
The groups mentioned in the list are Antifa Ost, based in Germany; the Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front (FAI/FRI), based in Italy; and the Greek organizations Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense. According to the State Department, all have a history of “violent actions and planned attacks against civilians, authorities and Western institutions”.
In a series of posts, the State Department detailed the allegations against each group. Antifa Ost, for example, was described as a “terrorist organization known for using hammers in premeditated attacks against defenseless victims” and which had already been classified as terrorist by Hungary after attacks in Budapest.
The FAI/FRI, in Italy, is seen as a coalition of “violent anarchists” who claimed attacks with explosives and the sending of bombs to politicians and diplomatic headquarters, including an attack in 2012 that injured the director of the nuclear company Ansaldo Nucleare. In Greece, the groups Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense are accused of using dynamite and explosive devices against the Ministry of Labor and police facilities.
The State Department also reported that the designations take effect on November 20 and that investigations continue in cooperation with European countries. The measure expands the scope of the Trump administration’s anti-terrorism policy.
