US designates four European anti-fascist groups as terrorist organisations

The US government designated four European anti-fascist groups as terrorist organisations as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on the far left following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Washington would designate German-based Antifa Ost, Italy-based International Revolutionary Front, and two other groups in Greece, Armed Proletarian Justice and Revolutionary Class Self Defence, as "Specially Designated Global Terrorists".

"Groups affiliated with this movement ascribe to revolutionary anarchist or Marxist ideologies, including anti-Americanism, 'anti-capitalism,' and anti-Christianity, using these to incite and justify violent assaults domestically and overseas," Rubio said.

"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," he added.

These groups are accused of "conspiring to undermine the foundations of Western civilisation through their brutal attacks," according to a US State Department statement.

Antifa is short for "anti-fascist," a broad umbrella of loosely affiliated, decentralised activists on the far left of the political spectrum.

Who are the groups Washington blacklisted?

The State Department said the German-based Antifa Ost "committed numerous attacks against people it perceives as 'fascists' or part of the 'right-wing scene' in Germany between 2018 and 2023."

The organisation is also accused of having "conducted a series of attacks in Budapest in mid-February 2023." Hungary had already placed the group on its national terror list at the end of September.

The Italy-based International Revolutionary Front, also known as the Informal Anarchist Federation, first came to public attention in 2003 and 2004, when it sent explosive packages to then-European Commission President Romano Prodi.

The group also sent letter bombs and explosive packages to former Deutsche Bank chief Josef Ackermann, politicians, newspaper offices and foreign embassies in Italy.

Armed Proletarian Justice is the name of a Greece-based group that took responsibility for planting a bomb, which failed to explode, outside the Athens riot police building in December 2023.

Two months later, a bomb detonated at Greece's labour department, and a new network calling itself Revolutionary Class Self-Defence claimed credit.

It also took credit for an explosion earlier this year outside the offices of the country's main train company.

The designation comes into effect on 20 November, according to Rubio.