To the editor:

One of the critiques about Antifas infiltration in peaceful protests to turn them in to violent riots is that in all of the arrests there is no arrest record of anyone in Antifas membership. In an interview with Brett Beir on Fox News, U.S. Attorney General William Barr stated that, We have some investigations underway, very focused investigations on certain individuals that relate to Antifa, but in the initial phase of identifying people and arresting them, they were arrested for crimes that dont require us to identify a particular group or dont necessitate that.

According to a Spectrumnews1.com article, Dr. Karl Kaltenthaler, who studies terrorism and political extremism says that Antifa is a movement an ideology shared by like-minded individuals. But Antifa isnt an organization . . . the typical profile (of Antifa members) is young, white, educated males who tend to be left leaning politically. Dr. Kaltenthaler also indicates that there are people who will self-identify as Antifa and be involved in the rioting and violence around protests. They wouldnt see it as kind of pointless violence. They would see it more as violence to get a political point across, violence to resist the system as they see it, which they see as oppressive, according to Dr. Kaltenthaler.

In addition, Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz stated that he believed that Antifa was present in the protests in his city, and that the FBI is investigating the protests that turned violent in Ohio.

In a Washington Post article on June 4, Barr indicated that he had evidence of Antifa hijacking the George Floyd protests. According to the article, We have evidence that Antifa and other similar extremist groups as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions have been involved in instigating and participating in violent activity. In addition, Barr described violent actors from both the extreme left and the extreme right including the Boogaloo group. FBI Director Wray stated that Antifa and other agitators were Set out to sow discord and upheaval, rather than join in the righteous pursuit of equality and justice. According to KSAT.com news article on June 6, three members of Antifa were arrested for looting a Target in Austin, Texas. These three were part of a larger group of 20 people. I think that there is plenty of evidence to show that the Antifa movement is a far left violent and anarchist movement that infiltrates peaceful protests and does nothing to advance the progress of equality or fight against racism.

Jonathan Ring

Rockport

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Letter: Barr: Antifa has role in protests | Letters To The Editor - Gloucester Daily Times