Antifa group designated foreign terror groups for first time

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is moving to designate four violent left-wing groups based in Europe as either foreign terrorist organizations or specifically designated global terrorists as part of a broad crackdown on extremism.

US State Department officials announced the intended designation on Thursday, saying the Antifa groups — Antifa Ost, the International Revolutionary Front, Armed Proletarian Justice, and Revolutionary Class Self Defense — “use force against those they identify as opponents of their Marxist and anarchist projects.”

The groups from Germany, Italy and Greece have carried out dozens of attacks in Europe over recent years — including assaults, bombings of government buildings and shootings.

“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,” said State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott in a statement.

“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.”