After US, Hungary declares Antifa as a terrorist organisation as Orban follows Trump’s footsteps

Hungary published a newly created list of terrorist organisations Friday, naming Antifa groups, after Prime Minister Viktor Orban vowed to follow US President Donald Trump’s lead against the left-wing movement.

Trump signed an order on Monday designating the movement as a domestic terrorist organisation in a move sparked by the killing of right-wing ally Charlie Kirk.

Following suit, the Hungarian government published a decree in the official gazette, ordering the creation of a national list of terrorist groups.

Only organisations not on EU or UN sanctions lists can be added, according to its provision.

The decree enables financial sanctions against any listed groups and blacklisting individuals associated with them, who may face expulsion or entry ban.

The index contains the Antifa grouping and Hammerbande/Antifa Ost, a German group linked to 2023 Budapest street assaults.

Several left-wing activists, protesting an annual commemoration by neo-Nazis, have been prosecuted in Hungary over the assaults.

Hungary previously did not have a separate register for terrorist groups.

“It must be said that Antifa and its affiliated sub-organisations are terrorist organisations,” Orban, the closest ally of Trump in the EU, told state radio earlier Friday during his weekly interview.

“And without them having committed any crimes yet, before they commit any, measures must be taken against them,” he added.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has also demanded that the European Union “must align its steps with the US” on Antifa.

Antifa is a shorthand term for “anti-fascist” used to describe diffuse far-left groups, and there have been questions since Trump first mooted the designation last week about how to define it.

Trump’s order on Monday described Antifa as a “militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government” and was using “violence and terrorism” to suppress free speech.

Activist Kirk was shot on September 10 at a Utah university campus.