Columbia News

Senator Eric Schmitt, a U.S. Senator from Missouri, posted a series of tweets on October 9, 2025, addressing the activities and organization of Antifa groups internationally.

In his first post, Schmitt stated, "Antifa is active across—and beyond—the West. Antifa cells in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and across Europe often work in direct coordination with one another—linked by a global network, they share funds, coordinate tactics, and mobilize across borders for violent 'direct actions.'" (October 9, 2025).

Schmitt continued in a subsequent tweet: "Let’s be clear: what Antifa is engaged in is not 'speech.' It is coordinated, organized political violence.

We can and should stand firm against political violence — and target the funding of violent conduct — while continuing to defend the right to peaceful free speech." (October 9, 2025).

He also referenced events at an international summit: "At the 2017 Hamburg G20 summit, militants from across the global Antifa network descended on Germany to wage coordinated street warfare—injuring nearly 500 police officers. It became such an issue that German police sought to intercept trains ferrying in activists at the border." (October 9, 2025).

Antifa is known as a loosely affiliated movement composed of autonomous groups that oppose fascism and far-right ideologies. The group has been involved in various protests across Western countries but does not have a centralized leadership structure.

The reference to the Hamburg G20 summit pertains to protests in July 2017 where demonstrators clashed with law enforcement; according to official reports at the time, hundreds of police officers were injured during these confrontations.