anarchist

"We're going to get out there and we're going to do a pretty big number on those people in Portland," he told reporters in the Oval Office, describing the targets as "professional agitators and anarchists".

However, in context, it is clear that Alter is criticizing a strain of anarchist activism in the United States.

According to Mark Bray, a professor of history at Rutgers University, the term was picked up across Europe in the 1980s and ’90s and adopted by a broad swath of leftists, anarchists and anti-authoritarian socialists.

By contrast, left-wing extremist incidents, including those tied to anarchist or environmental movements, have made up about 10& to 15% of incidents and less than 5% of fatalities.

The army too has alleged that various "individuals and anarchist groups" had infiltrated the protests and were damaging private and public property.