Slovenian Prime Minister: Antifa Is ‘International Terrorist Organisation’
Janez Janša, prime minister of former first lady Melania Trump’s home country of Slovenia, has labelled the far-left extremist group Antifa an “international terrorist organisation” following violence in France over the weekend
Prime Minister Janša made his comments on social media network Twitter, saying: “Antifa is a global terrorist organization. Supported by the capital of financial speculators forging profits at the expense of the chaos caused by the operation.”
The Slovenian leader was reacting to a post by American journalist Andy Ngo which highlighted Antifa violence over the weekend in the French city of Nantes which saw the far-left extremists attempt to disrupt a meeting of the conservative writer and French presidential hopeful Eric Zemmour.
According to a report from the newspaper Le Figaro, around 600 far-left extremists gathered in Nantes to oppose Zemmour on Saturday and some chanted for his death and clashed with police.
“We know who Joseph Stalin was, we know the hundreds of thousands of deaths he caused, these people are only his distant descendants,” Zemmour said in reaction to the far-left extremists.
Footage of the violence, as well as graffiti calling for Zemmour to be murdered, was reported by French journalist Clément Lanot.
Prime Minister Janez Janša is not the first world leader to label Antifa as a terrorist group. Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump urged former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to designate Antifa as a terrorist group earlier this year before leaving office.
The year prior, former U.S. Attorney General William Barr stated that Antifa members were involved in violence that amounted to domestic terrorism.
“The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly,” Barr said.
In 2019, when President Trump first discussed declaring Antifa a terrorist group, left-wing figures across Europe, particularly in Germany, reacted by declaring their support for the extremist group.