State Dept Labels European Antifa Groups as Foreign Terrorists
The State Department announced Thursday that it has designated four Europe-based Antifa-affiliated organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specifically Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).
This marks the first time the U.S. government has formally labeled Antifa-linked groups as foreign terrorist entities, after previously describing Antifa as a domestic terrorist threat, according to Fox News.
The four groups operate in Germany, Greece, and Italy and are accused of orchestrating or participating in bombings, shootings, and other politically motivated attacks.
With the new designations, U.S. financial institutions are required to freeze any assets connected to these organizations, and their members are barred from entering the United States. The move also enables U.S. authorities to prosecute individuals under American jurisdiction who provide material support to these groups or conspire to do so.
One of the designated organizations, Antifa Ost, has been tied to a series of attacks in Germany between 2018 and 2023. Seven individuals allegedly associated with the group have been charged by German prosecutors. In September, Hungary designated Antifa Ost as a terrorist organization after nine members were accused of attacking individuals with hammers, batons, and pepper spray in Budapest in 2023.
Another designated entity is the International Revolutionary Front, also known as the Informal Anarchist Federation, a loose coalition of militant groups based in Italy. The network advocates armed revolutionary struggle against the state and has been linked over the past two decades to numerous violent acts, including letter bombs targeting government and corporate offices, small explosive devices, and shootings—among them a 2012 attack on a nuclear engineering executive.
The remaining two groups, Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self Defense, are based in Greece. Authorities say they have carried out multiple attacks on government facilities, including an April bombing at the Hellenic Railway headquarters. Revolutionary Class Self Defense dedicated that attack to “the Palestinian people and their heroic resistance.”
State Department principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Piggot condemned the broader Antifa movement in a statement.
“The anarchists, Marxists, and violent extremists of Antifa have waged a terror campaign in the United States and across the Western world for decades, carrying out bombings, beatings, shootings, and riots in service of their extreme agenda,” he said.
“The State Department is committed to identifying and dismantling these terror networks that conspire to ruthlessly suppress the will of the people and violently undermine the very foundations of the United States and Western Civilization.”
Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt, who had previously urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to adopt the designations, praised the decision.
“I’m grateful to Secretary Rubio and the Trump administration for working with me on this critical issue — holding these radical groups who enable, fund and support political violence in the United States and across the world accountable,” Schmitt said.
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