Icon: enlarge
Police against protesters in Portland, Oregon (September 5): Clear warning from the FBI
Photo: Noah Berger / AP
Less than 50 days before the presidential election, the FBI expressed concern that violent confrontations between rival political groups in the United States could escalate.
Federal Police Director Christopher Wray said in a Congressional hearing in Washington that his agency was concerned about mounting tensions in the streets and groups "hijacking" protests to incite violence.
There is a new level of "flammable" violence, Wray told the House Homeland Security Committee.
Groups from opposing political sides add to the "threat to the situation".
The FBI is closely monitoring the situation.
In the past few months there have been repeated confrontations between right-wing activists and anti-racism protesters in the USA.
In Kenosha, Wisconsin, two people were shot dead on the sidelines of the protests in August.
A 17-year-old white man with ties to conservative groups - who is also said to have attended a Trump election campaign event - was arrested as a suspect.
Later in August, on the sidelines of an anti-racism demonstration in Portland, Oregon, a white supporter of the far-right Patriot Prayer was shot dead.
The suspect was shot dead by the police.
According to US media reports, it is said to have been a 48-year-old supporter of the left-wing antifa movement.
The nationwide anti-racism protests were sparked by the death of the African-American George Floyd in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis in late May and have since been fueled by further cases of police violence against blacks.
The protests are mostly peaceful, but there have been repeated violent clashes.
FBI says targeted campaign to "vilify" Biden
President Trump blames left-wing extremist "anarchists" for the violence on the sidelines of the protests.
In his campaign for the November 3rd election, Trump stands out as the candidate for "Law and Order".
Critics accuse him of having incited the violence with numerous, barely veiled statements.
Trump described a group of his supporters, some of whom had deliberately provoked the other side in Portland, as "great patriots" on Twitter.
Wray also made specific statements about the election campaign itself.
According to his words, Russia is again massively interfering.
It is specifically a question of "denigrating" President Trump's Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, according to Wray.
Again and again the question about Antifa
"We are seeing very, very active efforts by the Russians to influence our 2020 elections," he said.
They also tried to sow "division and discord".
According to the US secret services, this was also an approach carried out by campaigns carried out by Russia before the presidential election in 2016. In the meantime, unlike back then, no direct attacks on the election infrastructure have been detected, said the FBI director.
The Russian government had always denied the allegations.
The members of the Homeland Security Committee of the House of Representatives also questioned Wray intensively about the so-called Antifa movement, which Trump portrays in his election campaign as a central danger and driving force behind the riots in American cities.
FBI chief indirectly contradicts the president
The Republicans asked their questions to confirm this assessment, the Democrats cast them into doubt.
Wray said that from the FBI's point of view, Antifa was more of a movement than an organization - indirectly contradicting what the president said.
At the same time, he also emphasized that the federal police were investigating suspected extremism against individuals who identified with the Antifa.
Icon: The mirror
jok / AFP