Portland’s most recognizable left-wing group has spoken out against a Senate resolution introduced earlier this month that would label anti-fascists “domestic terrorists,” saying the proposal is an attempt to “criminalize dissent.”

Rose City Antifa released a statement saying the Republican Party “is explicitly targeting political opposition. If passed, this resolution would be a powerful new weapon for silencing leftists and dissent in the U.S.”

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana introduced the resolution July 18, nearly three weeks after clashes between right-wing and left-wing demonstrators in Portland made national headlines.

The resolution referenced a June 29 attack against conservative writer Andy Ngo during a mostly peaceful gathering of competing protesters in downtown. Ngo has said he suffered a brain injury. Cruz and Cassidy cited the attack as proof of the dangers posed by “antifa.”

The term is short for anti-fascist and generally serves as a blanket description for typically anonymous left-wing activists who say they support using disruptive and sometimes violent tactics to fight hate, homophobia and anti-Semitism.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack against Ngo, and Rose City Antifa didn’t directly address the violence in its statement, saying only that “not every person of conscience agrees on tactics.”

A spokesperson for the organization who identified themselves to The Oregonian/OregonLive only as “Ace” said that Rose City Antifa would not denounce the protest tactics of people who attend their rallies out of solidarity for the movement, but that the group generally supports defensive physical actions.

The statement, released on July 25, said labeling all activists who oppose fascism as domestic terrorists would “open the door to violations of their civil rights.”

“Anti-fascists are regular people: moms, teachers, carpenters, servers, healthcare workers, and veterans,” the statement said. “Fighting against the oppression, bigotry, and violence that we call fascism requires ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Stopping fascist activity is a goal common to all people of conscience.”

Rose City Antifa pointed to specific instances of violence in Portland, including a white man who murdered an African American teenager out of racial hatred outside a Gresham 7-Eleven in 2016, as well as the stabbing of three men who tried to defend black teenagers from a racial tirade on a MAX train in 2017. Two of the men died.

Rose City Antifa listed 97 organizations from around the country — most of them local antifa groups but no individuals — as supporters of the statement. The Oregonian/OregonLive reached out to several for comment Tuesday evening and heard back from two.

Victoria Frey, president of the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, who said the organization as a whole didn’t sign on to the statement but that individual members of its staff might have.

Effie Baum, a spokesperson for Portland-based “everyday antifascist” coalition Popular Mobilization, said the group signed the statement to show solidarity with organizations that shared its goals of “raising the cost of participation for racists and homophobic and transphobic people.” She believes that Republicans see designating antifa as “domestic terrorists” as an opportunity to distract from the issues the movement is protesting, such as immigrants dying in ICE custody under the Trump administration.

“The resolution gives them a new enemy to drum up animosity instead of addressing the fact that there is very real violence being perpetrated in the country,” Baum said. “It gives them a bogeyman … to further stigmatize a movement that is opposed to the horrors that they’re perpetrating.”

The Senate resolution, which hasn’t gone up for a vote, is meant to express a nonbinding position of the Senate and wouldn’t change the way the U.S. Justice Department prosecutes people accused of domestic terrorism.

The House now has a resolution with similar wording, introduced by U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., on July 25. And President Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted that he was considering designating antifa a domestic terrorist organization.

Consideration is being given to declaring ANTIFA, the gutless Radical Left Wack Jobs who go around hitting (only non-fighters) people over the heads with baseball bats, a major Organization of Terror (along with MS-13 & others). Would make it easier for police to do their job! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019

In their statement, Rose City Antifa described themselves as protectors of “numerous community events, spaces, and demonstrations from fascist violence.”

“Portland has been a target for the most violent elements of the right because of its progressive character,” the statement said. “Anti-fascist organizing in Portland is part of a larger anti-racist and anti-oppression movement that has been working for decades to disrupt white supremacist rallies from Berkeley to Charlottesville.”

-- Diana Kruzman; dkruzman@oregonian.com; 503-221-5394; @DKruzman