You’d expect Antifa to be on high alert while governments across the continent weigh up recognising it as a terrorist entity.
On the contrary, reports say the organisation’s branch in Utrecht, the Netherlands, has been caught training its members how to use violence against police to disrupt the rights of others to demonstrate.
Lydia Daniël, from the ‘Let Women Speak NL’ campaign group, which focuses on “preserving women’s rights based on biological reality,” this week revealed audio that she claims was recorded secretly at an Antifa workshop organised to disrupt her group’s political work.
The recording includes descriptions of how to break through police lines, one option for which is “straight-up violence.” The speaker says:
When violence is justified is all up to you as a person because I can tell you when I would use violence, but that is not the same for everyone.
They also brag that while individuals who “push the police away” are likely to be arrested, they are just as likely to be set free after as little as four hours.
Daniel de Liever, who is editor of the Dutch news site NieuwRechts, described the recording as “very worrying.” Clearly, it adds to the claim of Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders that Antifa is a terrorist organisation. Lawmakers in The Hague approved his motion calling for it to be designated as such last month, but it is now up to the Dutch government to decide whether to proceed with this classification.
Similar efforts are underway across the rest of Europe. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán said he would follow Donald Trump’s lead in designating the group as a terrorist organisation, and Germany’s AfD has suggested it will do the same if it gains power. The Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament is also working for the institution to recognise Antifa as a terrorist entity, but this appears to be much less likely to happen.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
