Impassioned tributes for Willem Van Spronsen, the seasoned Antifa activist who was shot dead by police after attacking an ICE detention center in Tacoma on Saturday, have flooded Twitter, praising him as a “hero” and a “martyr.”

According to police, Van Spronsen, 69, was armed with a rifle and an incendiary device when he approached the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington on Saturday and started hurling “lit objects” at cars in the parking lot, setting one vehicle alight.

The authorities believe that his ultimate goal was to set fire to a propane tank, a stunt that could have resulted in “the mass murder of staff and detainees” inside the facility, Shawn Fallah of the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility, told the Washington Post after the incident.

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The assailant was stopped by police and killed in the ensuing showdown. It was later revealed that Van Spronsen left a three-page manifesto in which he described his act as “a call to patriots” to stand up against Trump’s migration policy, in particular, “the concentration camps” for migrants.

While Van Spronsen admits that he is “Antifa,” he refuses to be affiliated with any organization, and calls on the government not to spend money on investigating his crime.

In the end of his manifesto, he urges his “comrades” to “arm themselves,” even illegally.

“We are now responsible for defending people from the predatory state. Ignore the law in arming yourself if you have the luxury, I did.”

Numerous anti-Trump #Resistance members on Twitter have sung the perpetrator's praises, including prominent civil rights activist Shaun King, who called Van Spronsen a "martyr," describing his manifesto as “a beautiful, painful, devastating letter.” After a swift backlash, King later deleted his eulogy to the attacker.

AND IT'S GONE: Shaun King DELETES his thread praising the attempted attack on an ICE facility carried out by Willem Van Spronsen https://t.co/HMFI8j6o8E(Archive: https://t.co/oQa48SPtuk) pic.twitter.com/LRir1YAsHF — NewsChute (@NewsChute) July 16, 2019

Many less high-profile, but equally passionate supporters took to Twitter to pay their respects to the attacker, with some echoing his call to use force in dismantling the existing system.

These Antifa tweets about Will Van Spronsen were made in just a span of under an hour. There are hundreds more that don't invoke his name. pic.twitter.com/sKuWlGVwVJ — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 14, 2019

willem van spronsen attacked an ICE detention center and was fatally shot. here's his manifesto. RIP comrade. pic.twitter.com/4Und3HZbC6 — bbq (@bitchfaceington) July 15, 2019

Will Van Spronsen is a god damn hero if you disagree you are fash — A.X. 🛡🏴 (@aires_aston) July 14, 2019

Will Van Spronsen is a hero. Dismantle ICE and release all its prisoners now, by force if necessary. — Meredith Russo, Author of Birthday (2019) (@Mer_Squared) July 14, 2019

That did not sit well with conservatives, who appealed to Twitter to stop the trickle of sympathy for the would-be mass-murderer, which they claimed was violating the platform’s terms of service.

Hi @tedcruzHow is this allowed under Twitter’s terms of service? William Van Spronsen fire bombed a government facility in an act of domestic terrorism. This tweet endorses terrorism. pic.twitter.com/RAaP6Ye2iC — Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) July 16, 2019

Some noted that to portray Van Spronsen as a victim of police violence was “a slap in the face to actual victims of police brutality.”

Painting the death of Willem Van Spronsen as a police brutality issue when he firebombed an immigration detention center is such a slap in the face to actual victims of police brutality. — Richard Armande Mills (RAM) (@RAMRANTS) July 15, 2019

Former spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association (NRA) Dana Loesch chimed in, saying that “violence is not a protected form of speech,” while denouncing the “glorification” of a “domestic terror act.” She also took a swipe at liberal politicians, accusing them of vilifying lawful gun owners while failing to condemn the attack.

But hey law-abiding gun owners are called “domestic terrorists, “the enemy,” and my favorite from Rep. Rice — “national security threats.” None of these same people have condemned this actual domestic terrorist attack btw, instead people like this are celebrating it. — Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) July 16, 2019

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