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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Following Trump, Orban says Hungary will designate Antifa a terrorist | |
group | |
By Christian Edwards, CNN | |
Updated: | |
4:25 PM EDT, Fri September 19, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday that Hungary will follow | |
the lead of US President Donald Trump and designate , the nebulous | |
far-left anti-fascist group that is more an ideology than a formal | |
group, as a . | |
Orbán, who has hollowed out Hungary’s civic institutions over his 15 | |
years in power, said he was “pleased” with Trump’s decision to | |
list Antifa as a “major terrorist organization” in the US, and that | |
Hungary would do the same. | |
“Antifa is a terrorist organization,” Orbán told state radio. | |
“The time has also come in Hungary for organizations like Antifa to | |
be classified as terrorist organizations, following the American | |
example.” | |
Orbán, a champion of what he calls “illiberal democracy,” is often | |
credited with inspiring Trump’s for government. Orbán has become a | |
darling to MAGA conservatives, and the president has praised him as a | |
“very great leader” and “very strong man.” While Trump | |
administration critics accuse the president of deploying tactics used | |
in Hungary, Orbán’s announcement shows that the relationship can go | |
both ways. | |
In an early-morning tirade on Thursday during his state visit to | |
Britain, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he is designating Antifa, | |
which he called a “sick, dangerous, radical left disaster,” as a | |
terror organization. In the days after the killing of , the | |
conservative activist, the president has sought to into efforts to go | |
after his rivals. | |
In the US, Antifa is a loosely organized movement without a distinct | |
leader, membership lists or structure. It is unclear what effects | |
Trump’s designation will have on Antifa since, as a domestic | |
movement, it enjoys First Amendment protections, unlike the US State | |
Department’s list of foreign terror organizations. | |
Antifa is similarly unstructured in Hungary. In his comments, Orbán | |
cited a 2023 incident in which Ilaria Salis, an Italian antifascist | |
activist, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting participants in an | |
annual far-right “Day of Honor” event in Budapest, Hungary’s | |
capital. | |
“They have come to Hungary, beaten peaceful people in the streets, | |
beaten some half to death,” Orbán said Friday. | |
Salis was released in May 2024 before winning a seat in the European | |
Parliament, which granted her legal immunity. | |
Without naming Salis, Orbán complained that Antifa activists can “go | |
on to become MEPs, and from there they lecture Hungary on the rule of | |
law.” European lawmakers have criticized Hungary for continuing to | |
commemorate the “Day of Honor,” which marks the failed attempt by | |
Nazi German and Hungarian troops to break the Soviet siege of Budapest | |
in 1945. Last year, three MEPs said the event remains a “shameful | |
display of Nazi banners, slogans and uniforms.” | |
Although Antifa is not an active group in Hungary, Orbán’s threats | |
against it are unsurprising. Orbán has long sought to consolidate his | |
power through concocting scapegoats for Hungary’s ills. Most | |
notoriously, he has vilified the billionaire philanthropist George | |
Soros, hounding his Open Society Foundations from the country. | |
Orbán’s conspiracies around Soros are . Trump suggested in August | |
that Soros should be charged with a , the Racketeer Influenced and | |
Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), because of his alleged “support for | |
Violent Protests, and much more.” | |
Following Kirk’s assassination last week, conservatives have called | |
for Trump to bring RICO charges against left-wing groups they view as | |
part of a concerted effort to incite violence in the US. | |
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