Antifa Claims Responsibility for Pre-Election Attack on Dutch Populist Thierry Baudet

An Antifa cell in the Netherlands has claimed responsibility for an attack on Dutch populist leader Thierry Baudet during a campaign event in Groningen on Monday evening.

On the eve of the general election in the Netherlands, it was revealed by the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper that assailant of Forum for Democracy (FvD) leader Thierry Baudet was a 15-year-old member of a local branch of the leftist militant Antifa activist group.

According to the paper, the Antifa cell, Antifascist Action North (AFA Noord), acknowledged that the attacker was a member of their far-left organisation, proclaiming: “We are disrupting and blocking assemblies in our struggle against fascism and right-wing extremism. This boy has acted from his conviction and made use of the possibility.”

A spokesman for the leftist group refused to admit whether the attack was premeditated but said that Antifa does “not always” reject resorting to violence. The Antifa radical went on to blame the populist politician for the attack against himself, saying: “Baudet’s words lead to violence. Enough is enough.”

At the time of the assault on Monday, Baudet, alongside other members of his right-wing populist party, was campaigning in a cafe in the northern Dutch city of Groningen before the attacker smashed a glass beer bottle into the side of his head a number of times.

Baudet, a member of the House of Representatives in the Netherlands, was then rushed to the hospital and treated by a trauma surgeon. Fortunately, the populist politician walked away from the incident largely unscathed, especially given the proximity of the bottle to his temple and eye.

The Forum for Democracy leader, who has been a vocal opponent of mass migration and the globalist agenda of the European Union, has previously faced attacks and has had threats scrawled on the door of his offices, forcing him to employ personal security guards for years. Just last month on the way to give a speech at the University of Ghent in Belgium, Baudet was attacked by a man wielding an umbrella, suffering a mild concussion.

“You saw it with the smearing of paint from our door, it always comes from the same angle. It fits in a pattern. I really want to do something about it in a serious way. It now seems as if danger to the rule of law comes from people who are critical of the rule of law. But it is clear to me: it comes from this corner,” Baudet said following the attack, referring to radical leftists in the Netherlands.

Therefore, Baudet and the Forum for Democracy party have called on the Dutch government to place Antifa on the state’s “terror list”.

“Antifa is an explicitly terrorist organisation,” the party said in a statement, continuing: “Antifa is a criminal organization and should be classified as such so that more effective means of investigation can be used to prevent this kind of political violence in the future.”

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