WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed an executive order that designates Antifa as a national terrorist group, a network of radical left activists.
The president made the announcement one day after a ceremony in memory of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Due to a “pattern of political violence designed to suppress legal political activity and obstruct the rule of law, designate Antifa as ‘internal terrorist organization’,” says the executive order signed by the president.
The Antifa group, abbreviation for “anti -fascist”, is a term generally associated with a marginal sector of the extreme left that is related to disturbances and violence during protests.
The executive order described the group as a “militarist and anarchist company that explicitly calls for overthrow of the United States government” and uses “violence and terrorism” to suppress freedom of expression.
The Executive Order accuses Antifa of using “media and mechanisms elaborated to hide the identities of its operations.” He also used the same methods to hide their sources of financing and recruit new members, according to the order.
He adds that US authorities can act against “anyone who claims to act on the name of Antifa” or whom “antifa or any person who claims to act in the name of Antifa has provided material support.”
Charlie Kirk murder
Last week Trump threatened to impose this designation after a senior White House official, Stephen Miller, promised that the administration would dismantle a “great domestic terrorist movement” that linked to the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The American justice has accused the alleged attacker, Tyler Robinson, 22, of Kirk’s murder.
Trump already threatened to take measures against what Antifa has called during his first mandate.
He has blamed him with several crimes, from violence against the police until he was behind the attack on the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021, in which Trump supporters participated that aimed to block the presidential electoral victory of Joe Biden.
Confrontation history
The critics of the Republican president warn that the measure could be used as a pretext to suppress dissent and attack political rivals.
Antifa, whose name has roots in socialist groups of Germany of 1930 that opposed Hitler, has a confrontation history with right -wing groups and participation in civil disobedience.
Activists aligned with antifa, often dressed completely black, protest against racism, conservative values and what they consider “fascism.” They justify violence as “self -defense.”
The application of the Federal Law includes the fight against domestic terrorism, but the United States so far did not have a list of “designated” domestic terrorist organizations. The list is headed by Antifa.
