The black bloc lays siege to the land of the free

There were brawls the last time Patriot Prayer – a far-right nationalist group – rallied in the liberal city of Portland, Oregon. This time, police were ready. Officers lined barriers to keep the mix of white nationalists and Donald Trump supporters in baseball caps and T-shirts separated from a black-clad band of counter-protesters, heads covered in hoods or helmets, faces hidden by masks or scarves. It wasn’t enough.

As the time of the rally approached, dozens of anti-fascists – or antifa – made their move, shoving at the barricade. Rocks, smoke bombs and water bottles arced through the air.

By the time police dressed in riot gear restored order, Joey Gibson, a notorious local figure, had led his Patriot Prayer followers to another location in a neighbouring town.

“He wasn’t able to have his event in Portland,” said David, who was among the so-called “black bloc” protesters. “It was definitely a win for us.”

Portland one weekend, Berkeley this week. America’s polarised politics has ignited bitter clashes between hard-right groups, which both helped propel Mr Trump to power and feed off his administration, and the hard Left, with its roots in anarchist politics and tactics of confrontation.

Supporters of the antifa movement say it is part of a noble tradition, tracing its roots to militant anti-nazi campaigners in Weimar Germany.

The tradition was resurrected in Europe during the Seventies and Eighties in response to far-right football hooligans and the skinhead movement.

Antifa activists say their networks are growing rapidly, swollen by people horrified at Mr Trump’s attacks on immigrants, Muslims and minorities and the rise of white supremacists such as Richard Spencer and his National Policy Institute.

The loose movement includes anarchist affinity groups, trade union-led “general defence councils”, gun clubs and self-defence gyms.

A familiar tactic is to appear in a mass protest as a black bloc, moving with military precision in black clothing. But to detractors on the Left and the Right, it is a source of violence and a threat to free speech.

Antifa militants are reluctant to disclose their identities or discuss operational details, but several spoke to The Daily Telegraph on condition of anonymity.

“David” – who described himself as a married man in his thirties with a full-time job – is a member of Rose City Antifa in Portland. He described antifa more as a tactic or a mindset than an organisation.

“When you are an anti-fascist activist, you are targeted for retribution by white supremacists, and

‘The antifa incited enough violence to make the police declare it illegal to gather in the park. They effectively made a previously legally permitted Nazi rally illegal’

that entails a certain dedication, a willingness to go a step further than showing up to a meeting on the weekends every so often,” he said.

Rose City Antifa formed in 2007 to campaign against a skinhead festival. It collects evidence of fascist views among rally organisers to persuade venues to shut their doors to groups such as Patriot Prayer or publicly outing white supremacists, making it more difficult for them to hold down jobs.

And then there are the public confrontations. Sometimes it can be sheer weight of numbers and sometimes it involves force.

“We want to confront them and sometimes physically block them from entering the space,” said David. “That was really the goal last weekend down at the waterfront [in Portland].”

He said his group chose not to carry weapons on this occasion to avoid police attention, before adding that self-defence was a legitimate response to a violent ideology, to people who believe they are free to enact violence upon any group they deem worthy of being a target.

An activist from New Jersey, who demonstrated on the day of Mr Trump’s inauguration, said the black-bloc idea developed in Seventies Germany as a response to police brutality. “Most of the people I know are students, quite a few call themselves punks, but there is a young mother and plenty of people with regular jobs,” she said. “I’m not a big person and I’m not into fighting but being in the black bloc gives us anonymity and security.”

The various factions claim success with their militant methods. Dozens of rallies up and down the country have been postponed, thrown into chaos or cut short. California’s Berkeley College cancelled an appearance earlier this year by Milo Yiannopoulos, the alt-right provocateur, after a violent protest that university authorities blamed on “150 masked agitators” caused $100,000 of damage.

However, Scott Stewart, vicepresident for analysis at Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence group, said there was evidence antifa’s targets extended beyond neo-nazi groups to include anyone with nationalist views, including Trump supporters, and those with whom they disagreed.

“It’s one thing to oppose ideas with ideas, but it’s another thing to oppose ideas with violence,” he said. “Under the American system – like it or not – people who hold repugnant views have a right to express those views in speech as long as they don’t do anything illegal or violent.”

Portland’s antifa is among the groups accused of shutting down not just fascists but the Right, in general. In April, a parade opening the city’s Rose Festival – an annual local fair – was cancelled when it attracted the anger of protest groups. Two said they would demonstrate if Multnomah County Republican Party took up its spot in the procession.

Then an anonymous email arrived threatening violence.

“You have seen how much power we have downtown and that the police cannot stop us from shutting down roads, so please consider your decision wisely,” it said.

Now, the threats do not even have to be made. Recent events – where thousands of protesters have caused damage or shouted down speakers, from Berkeley on the West Coast to Boston on the east – are enough to make organisers think twice.

Shiva Ayyadurai had been due to address a golf club meeting of Republicans on Cape Cod yesterday as part of his campaign to win one of Massachussetts’ two Senate seats. But organisers in the small town of Brewster (population fewer than 10,000) said they postponed his appearance when a free speech rally featuring Mr Ayyadurai (as well as Kyle Chapman, feted on the Right for hitting a protester with a stick in Berkeley) attracted 40,000 counter-demonstrators last month in Boston.

Some antifa activists are unapologetic about their tactics. While many of the groups use legal, traditional forms of protest and community organising, others make no secret of the fact they arm themselves with pepper spray, knives and petrol bombs.

An organiser with New York’s Metropolitan Anarchist Co-ordinating Council said violence was justified when it was used in self-defence against fascists.

“What groups like [Richard Spencer’s white supremacist think tank] National Policy Institute are advocating is for hateful, violent acts against the most marginal people in society. That’s not free speech at that point, it’s hate speech and does not deserve a platform,” she said.

Liberals fear their actions risk undermining their cause, though, and promote a spiral of violence.

Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Centre, which monitors extremist groups, told the Washington Examiner: “In Berkeley, antifa showed up and shut down speeches. The next time the white supremacists brought the Oath Keepers with them, they brought their own army.”

This weekend, the focus switches back to Berkeley, where conservative students are launching a free speech week. Mr Yiannopoulos and Steve Bannon, whose economic nationalism helped propel Mr Trump to power, are expected to appear on Wednesday.

But the worst flashpoint of the summer arrived last month in Charlottesville where white supremacists clashed with counterprotesters. One woman died when a car was driven into a crowd.

In the aftermath, Mr Trump blamed the violence on “many sides”.

Conservatives pointed the finger at antifa even as some of their Leftwing sympathisers said the protesters were peaceful and should not be compared with the violence of fascist ideology.

Not everyone in the antifa crowd saw it that way. A member of the clergy who was present celebrated the violence that forced the white supremacist march to be shut down.

“The antifa strategically incited enough violence before noon to make the police declare it illegal to gather in Emancipation Park,” he or she wrote in a Facebook account of the day that has been shared widely on antifa media. “Through this strategic violence they effectively made a previously legally permitted Nazi rally, illegal.”

More than 50 years after Berkeley’s campus became the centre of the Sixties student free speech movement, the stage is set once again for a new, bloody round of confrontation.

‘Groups are advocating hateful, violent acts against the most marginal people in society ... That’s not free speech, it’s hate speech and does not deserve a platform’