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An official U.S. terrorist list dominated by jihadist groups and a clutch of cartels has its first European additions in more than two decades: four Antifa groups.

Designating groups as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) empowers U.S. federal authorities to investigate the groups’ supporters, prosecute them, and seize their assets.

The European groups, added to the list on Nov. 20, include Italian anarchists who carried out a letter-bomb campaign against European Union leaders, a German hammer-wielding gang accused of targeting right-wing party members, and two Greek anti-capitalist groups.

Short for “antifascist,” Antifa seeks to silence people whose viewpoints it defines as “fascist,” and vows to do so “by any means necessary”—a popular Antifa rallying cry.

Here is what to know about the four groups: 

Italy, Home of ‘World’s Largest Anarchist Network’

One of the newly declared FTOs hails from Italy, where fascism originated under dictator Benito Mussolini in the 1920s.

The group is called the Informal Anarchist Federation, also known as the International Revolutionary Front.

The group “is likely the world’s largest anarchist network and the one that claims the highest number of attacks,” according to a March 2024 report published by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism.

It has claimed responsibility for attacks in Italy, Greece, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Chile, Brazil, and Mexico, the report said.

Since 2003, the organization has committed violence, bombings, letter-bombs, and other attacks against places it deems “capitalist institutions,” the State Department said in a Nov. 13 fact sheet. 

Greek Anti-Capitalist Groups

Revolutionary Class Self-Defense and Armed Proletarian Justice are two newly designated terror groups based in Greece.

Both claim to be “anti-capitalist” and are known to use improvised explosive devices in attacks against Greek governmental targets.

Revolutionary Class Self-Defense has been outspoken in its solidarity with Palestine’s conflicts with Israel; the group dedicated two recent attacks to the Palestinians.

In February 2024, an explosive device targeted the Greek Ministry of Labor, but officials evacuated the area, resulting in no injuries.

In April 2025, Revolutionary Class Self-Defense claimed responsibility for that attack and also for an explosion at the Hellenic Train offices, saying railway safety concerns motivated the attack.

The other Greek group, Armed Proletarian Justice, claimed responsibility for a 2023 bombing attempt at a police headquarters in Athens.

In a public post on an anarchist website, the group said: “You were lucky this time; the same will not apply next time. We dedicate our action to those who have been murdered, tortured, beaten, and raped by the Greek police.”

Germany’s Hammer Gang

After antifascism took hold in Italy, some people in Germany also became early adopters of antifascist ideology; Germany is often considered the cradle of the Antifa movement as we know it today. 

That’s partly because it was the origin of flags and other symbols still in use, along with the “black bloc” protest method, in which participants don black masks and clothing to avoid being identified.

A group known as Antifa Ost, German for “Antifa East,” stands out among the four new terror designees partly because of its methods.

As its nickname, the Hammerbande—German for “Hammer Gang”—implies, Antifa Ost has been known to bludgeon its victims with hammers. Hammer attacks have been carried out in broad daylight, online videos show.

Seven members of the group began standing trial in Germany on Nov. 25 for attempted murder and other charges. From 2018 to 2023, the group attacked people it regarded as fascists, German prosecutors said.

However, at the time of the FTO designation, German authorities downplayed the threat that Antifa Ost might pose.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Sarah Fruehauf told reporters that the group’s leaders and most violent members were either in custody or imprisoned.

What Power Does Terror Label Give US?

Simply put, the FTO designation makes it illegal for anyone in the United States to conduct business with the groups or to provide material support or resources to them.

The FTO designation was made after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in September naming Antifa a “domestic terrorist organization.”

FBI Director Kash Patel told The Epoch Times, “With our partners in Treasury, we are following the money and mapping out this entire network and treating them as a terrorist organization under the authorities the president has given us.

“In the turn of the new year, you’re going to see some very righteous prosecutions and investigations being publicized,” the director added.

Michael Waller, a former CIA operative who now serves as a senior analyst at the Center for Security Policy, said Trump’s FTO declarations have “energized the fight against domestic violent extremism by bringing ironclad existing federal laws into play.”

“These foreign groups and domestic Antifa communicate back and forth. There are degrees of collaboration,” he told The Epoch Times. 

“The FTO designation gives authorities here more tools to crack down on domestic extremists in ways that have already been settled in court.”

—Janice Hisle; Savannah Hulsey Pointer; Jan Jekielek; Stacy Robinson

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—Stacy Robinson