The Texas Department of Public Security has confirmed that it is investigating links between violent extremists, including Antifa, and some of the violence in recent protests against the death of George Floyd.
The Texas Rangers and DPS agents are working with their counterparts in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Taskforce to track down individuals involved in rioting or looting in the state of Texas, DPS director Steven McGraw said Tuesday.
“We’re talking about violent extremists. There are anarchists. There is Antifa, but there are also criminals who use this as an opportunity to take advantage of, pillage, and injure others. That happened, ”said McGraw. “We have a long memory. We have recorded evidence and will continue to investigate each and every incident to identify those involved in criminal activity and make the appropriate arrests based on probable grounds and prosecuted by either the District Attorney or the U.S. Attorney General. ”
McGraw said DPS embedded special agents in the protesters to try to identify the violent infiltrators. Some have already been identified and are expected to be arrested.
McGraw pointed to the May 31st protest and the looting of a Target store in Austin as a violent act organized by Antifa over the internet.
“The protest and looting of Target in Austin, conducted and organized by an Antifa website, and of course the surveillance that was provided over the internet to determine where law enforcement resources were being provided, was done through Antifa accounts.”
Twitter has banned an account that claims to belong to a national “antifa” organization and is linked to the white nationalist group Identity Evropa. The newly created account with the handle @ANTIFA_US tweeted on Sunday: “Tonight is the night, comrades”, with a brown fist emoji and “Tonight we say ‘F – Die Stadt’ and we move into the residential areas … the white hoods … and we take what is ours … “
McGraw said he heard that white supremacists were involved in some of the violence, but he did not confirm it. He describes Antifa as a loose group with no hierarchy and members who identify with themselves.
McGraw stressed that the majority of those who protested against the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd were peaceful and that the DPS has a duty to protect their right to protest.
Governor Greg Abbott has repeated the same position, saying the violence overshadowed Floyd’s death and the urge for justice to be done quickly. Abbott and others have attributed the violence to people outside of Texas.
Antifa is short for anti-fascists. They don’t trust the government or the police and want to take matters into their own hands to try to stop white supremacists.
