Antifa declared terrorist group

Trump’s push to target left-wing movement raises questions on free speech and law.

- BY JENNY JARVIE

AN ANTIFA protester sprays pink smoke during a demonstration near the California State Capitol on Inauguration Day in 2021.

(GINA FERAZZI Los Angeles Times)

President Trump moved Monday to classify the left-wing, antifascist movement known loosely as antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, opening up a new front in his battle with political foes and raising legal and ethical questions about how the U.S. government can prosecute a movement.

Antifa activism and violence has spread during the Trump years. Since he took office in 2017, its targets have broadened as militant antifascist protesters - concealing their identities with masks, dressing head to toe in black - have sparred with police to block a right-wing provocateur speaking at UC Berkeley, confronted alt-right demonstrators with sticks, shields and chemical irritants in Charlottesville, Va., stormed a federal courthouse while protesting police brutality in Portland, Ore., and lobbed rocks at law enforcement as federal immigration agents ratcheted up raids in Los Angeles.

In announcing the move, Trump called antifa a “militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law... that [executes] a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals.”

Critics warn he is utilizing right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s recent killing to launch a sweeping government crackdown on his political opponents — and crush their constitutional rights to free speech and free assembly.

“I am very concerned that these actions are meant to punish disfavored dissent,” said Brian Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.