US president mulls labeling anti-fascist movement antifa a terror group
US President Donald Trump has announced that he may consider labeling the anti-fascist movement in the country, known as antifa, a terrorist organization amid criticism that such designation may raise constitutional rights concerns.
“Consideration is being given to declaring ANTIFA, the gutless Radical Left Wack Jobs who go around hitting (only non-fighters) people over the heads with baseball bats, a major Organization of Terror (along with MS-13 & others),” Trump wrote in a Saturday Twitter post, adding: “Would make it easier for police to do their job!”
Trump’s announcement came just days after right-wing Republican Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a nonbinding resolution in the US Congress that would label antifa activists as “domestic terrorists.”
“Antifa are terrorists, violent masked bullies who ‘fight fascism’ with actual fascism, protected by Liberal privilege,” Cassidy asserted in a statement. “Bullies get their way until someone says no. Elected officials must have courage, not cowardice, to prevent terror.”
Such designation would permit law enforcement agencies to examine suspects’ known associations and affiliations, leading critics of the measure to charge that the move could result in overly broad enforcement.
“It is dangerous and overly broad to use labels that are disconnected [from] actual individual conduct,” said American Civil Liberties Union’s Director of the National Security Project, Hina Shamsi, last week.
“And as we’ve seen how ‘terrorism’ has been used already in this country,” she noted, “any such scheme raises significant due process, equal protection and First Amendment constitutional concerns.”
The anti-fascist movement has gained notoriety as supporters donning black costumes have engaged mostly far-right activists and militants in confrontations that have occasionally led to violent clashes.
Moreover, the group most recently drew headlines after right-wing journalist Andy Ngo was bloodied during a confrontation with militant protesters in the city of Portland in the western state of Oregon.
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