Donald Trump: Antifa to be designated a ‘terrorist organisation’

President Trump announced the decision on Twitter on Sunday

Antifa now designated a ‘terrorist organisation’

The United States will designate Antifa, an anti fascist group, as a ‘terrorist organisation’.

Short for anti-fascists, Antifa is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

The group has been accused of escalating the riots during the Black Lives Matter protests that are taking place across America.

The protests are a response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by an American police officer who knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.

Mr Floyd was killed in Minneapolis on Monday, and the protests have spread across the world, with some of them turning violent.

READ: Officer Derek Chauvin: who is the Minneapolis police officer who arrested George Floyd?

Images of police brutality have emerged alongside looting and rioting of some protestors.

Antifa now designated a ‘terrorist organisation’

Attorney General William Bar said on Sunday that the FBI would use its regional joint terrorism task forces to "identify criminal organisers” while President Trump tweeted: “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organisation.”

Mr Trump has not specified how and when this official designation would happen, though it has been supported by fellow Republicans including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who tweeted: “This is exactly right, and what I’ve been publicly urging for the last two years” and later added: “ANTIFA are evil, bigoted terrorists.”

The Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey said on Friday: “We are now confronting white supremacists, members of organised crime, out of state instigators, and possibly even foreign actors to destroy and destabilize our city and our region.”

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Antifa now designated a ‘terrorist organisation’

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