The Trump administration officially classified four European Antifa cells as terrorist organisations this week, marking the first international designations after the White House named the America-based branch of the far-left network as a domestic terror group in September.
The State Department said this week that as of November 20th, four radical leftist Antifa groups in Germany, Greece, and Italy will be designated as terrorist groups as a part of the Trump administration’s “commitment to confront Antifa’s campaign of political violence”.
The far-left groups include German-based ‘Antifa Ost’ [Antifa East], also known as the ‘Hammer Gang’, which the State Dept said has been responsible for “numerous attacks against individuals it perceives as ‘fascists’ or part of the ‘right-wing scene’ in Germany between 2018 and 2023 and is accused of having conducted a series of attacks in Budapest in mid-February 2023.”
Die Welt reported that Washington did not consult Berlin before classifying the cell as a terror group, which will see members barred from entering the United States, their assets liable to be frozen and seized, and a prohibition against any American from doing business with them.
One of the alleged members involved in the Budapest attack, Ilaria Salis, was held in Hungary under house arrest. However, she was released last year after being elected to the European Parliament to represent her native Italy, which granted her immunity from prosecution. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán cited the incident in his decision to classify Antifa as a terror group in Hungary.
In July, German prosecutors in Düsseldorf charged six other suspected members of the group for membership in a criminal organisation, aggravated assault, and attempted murder over the Budapest attack. A further seven members of Antifa East are currently on trial in Dresden, including some for attempted murder.
The upcoming trials were cited by an Antifa cell in Germany as part of their justification for firebombing the car of the leader of the populist Alternative for Germany parliamentary group in the Bundestag earlier this month.
“Form one, two, three, many hammer gangs! Antifascist alert, whether with a hammer or a Molotov cocktail! We don’t want to see any sexists, racists, or fascists in our city! All you damn MAGAfreaks, you will follow [Charlie] Kirk to hell!” the group wrote on the far-left Indymedia platform.
They also argued that in response to terror designations, far-left radicals should “organise militantly anti-fascistally,” continuing: “In other words, to do exactly what the accused Antifa members are now being charged with.”
In addition to Germany’s Antifa East, the State Department named the Italy-based ‘Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front (FAI/FRI)’, as well as the Greek groups ‘Armed Proletarian Justice’ and ‘Revolutionary Class Self-Defence’, as terror groups.
The U.S. said that the group of (FAI/FRI) Antifa group has “claimed responsibility for threats of violence, bombs, and letter bombs against political and economic institutions, including a courthouse and other ‘capitalist institutions’.” The group is also said to be committed to the “evolutionary armed struggle against nation states and ‘The Fortress Europe’.”
The Greece-based ‘Armed Proletarian Justice’ and ‘Revolutionary Class Self-Defense’ groups, which are both described as being a collective of anarchist and “anti-capitalist” radicals, were accused of conducting improvised explosive device (IED) attacks against Greek government targets.
Antifa, which first emerged in the 1930s as Antifaschistische Aktion, the paramilitary wing of the then-German Communist Party (KPD), has also been accused of sabotage attacks on critical infrastructure across Europe, including on communications networks, railway lines, and police forces.
The Trump administration said this week that the United States will “continue using all available tools to protect our national security and public safety and will deny funding and resources to terrorists, including targeting other Antifa groups across the globe.”
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