Trump card European allies rally to antifa ban

Where Donald Trump leads, Europe's nationalists and far right follow. After a Truth Social post last month, when Trump announced the US would designate antifa, the decentralised anti-fascist movement, “a major terrorist organisation”, his international allies swung into action.

- By Jennifer Rankin BRUSSELS

That same day, the Dutch parliament, where the largest party is Geert Wilders' far-right PVV, passed a resolution, noting the US decision and calling on the government to declare antifa a terrorist organisation in the Netherlands.

Then the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said his country would follow suit. Next, in the European parliament, a far-right MEP from the Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang party drafted a resolution with the same request. Tom Vandendriessche announced last week that 79 MEPS from 20 countries supported his proposed text. In a video he described antifa as “an international network that is supported, financed and protected by the system to fight the nationalist opposition with violence”.