Trump signs the order to call an antifa movement a terrorist organization

US President Donald Trump signed a decree on Monday, describing the antifa movement as a “terrorist organization”, said the White House, after promising actions targeting left -wing groups following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Kirk, an eminent conservative activist with close ties with Trump, was murdered on September 10 while he was speaking on a UTAH university campus. A 22 -year -old technical student was accused of the kirk murder.

Investigators are still looking for a reason and have not declared that the suspect operated in concert with groups. But the Trump administration used murder as a pretext to revive the plans old years to target the left groups which they consider hostile to conservative opinions.

Antifa, abbreviation of anti-fascist, is a “decentralized movement and without a leader composed of loose collections of groups, networks and individuals”, according to the anti-division league, which follows the extremists.

“While some extreme actors who claim to be affiliated with antifa engage in violence or vandalism during gatherings and events, it is not the norm,” he said on his website.

Look | Break the origins of Antifa:

What is Antifa and why does Trump target it?

In the aftermath of the murder of Charlie Kirk, American president Donald Trump said he would designate antifa as a terrorist group – but what is Antifa? For the National, Ashley Fraser from CBC breaks down the origins of the movement and why experts say that its use has been intimate to serve a political story.

The executive decree of 370 words of Trump directs “all the departments and executive agencies concerned” to “investigate, disturb and dismantle all the illegal operations” carried out by Antifa or any person who finances such actions, according to the White House.

“Associated individuals and act on behalf of Antifa are coordinating more with other organizations and entities in order to propagate, foment and advance political violence and remove legal political discourse.”

Federal officials of law enforcement are already investigating violent and organized crime associated with a variety of hate groups and ideological movements.

The American government does not officially designate national groups as a largely part terrorist organization due to constitutional protections.

Critics warn the move is an attack on freedom of expression

Critics of the administration warned that he could continue an attack on freedom of expression and the opponents of the Republican President.

The divisions against terrorism and the counterintelligence of the FBI will be used to follow the finances – national and foreign sources of funding – and attempt to identify the central management of the Antifa, said the official. FBI surveillance and survey operations are normally limited in the way they can target American citizens.

“Large -scale emphasis is to focus on foreign funds and to establish links with foreign bank accounts,” a source of the familiar white house told Reuters.

“The designation of Antifa gives us the power to assign banks to appear, to look at transfers, sources of foreign and national funding, this kind of thing,” said the source of the White House.

It was not clear what individuals would be the target of such a probe.

Experts in political violence and US officials of law enforcement previously identified far -right attacks as the main source of domestic violent extremism. Trump administration officials have sought to portray left -wing groups such as the main drivers of political violence in their remarks since Kirk’s death.

Legal experts have declared that the designation of domestic terrorism could be legally and constitutionally doubtful, difficult to execute and raise free concerns, since the subscription to an ideology is generally not considered to be criminal under American law.