U.S President Donald Trump has said that he will designate the anti-facist group, ANTIFA, a terror organization.
“The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” Trump said in a tweet on Sunday.
Trump had blamed the group for the breakdown of law and order in parts of the U.S , which resulted from public protests against the death of George Floyd, a black American.
Protests over his death have turned violent, prompting major cities to impose curfews.
The National Guard – the US reserve military force for domestic emergencies – had been deployed in 15 states to help police forces deal with the unrest.
US officials have given contrasting explanations for who is responsible for the riots, with some suggesting outside groups and individuals were involved.
Meanwhile, New York Times Security Reporter, Charlie Salvage, in a retweet, told the President not to take the decision, adding that ANTIFA were just aggrieved protesters.
“Waste no brain cells on this. Antifa is a vaguely defined movement of people who like direct-action protest tactics, not an actual organization. Even if it were a real group, the law that lets the government deem entities as terrorists only applies to foreign orgs,”
The group has been variously described as protesters and militants.
The Antifa movement began in the 1960s in Europe, and had reached the US by the end of the 1970s.
The group sometimes use a logo with a double flag, usually in black and red.
