Cops bust 31 members of white supremacy group Patriot Front planning riot at Idaho Pride: Found packed into U-Haul van with shields, riot gear and a smoke grenade
More than 30 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front were arrested near an Idaho pride event after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear.
The men were standing inside the truck wearing khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas covering their faces when Coeur d'Alene police stopped the U-Haul and began arresting them on the side of the road.
'They came to riot downtown,' Coeur d´Alene Police Chief Lee White said at a news conference. All 31 were charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, after police received reports from residents who spotted the 'little army' getting inside the vehicle around 1.38 p.m., local news station KREM2 reported.
Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas, White said. Only one was from Idaho.
The men were going through the booking process Saturday afternoon and are scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, he said.
Based on evidence collected and documents, authorities found that the group was planning to riot in several areas of downtown, not just the park, White said.
Videos of the arrest posted on social media show the men kneeling on the grass with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. 'Reclaim America' was written on the back of one shirt.
Patriot Front formed in the aftermath of the 2017 white nationalist 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, when it broke off from another extremist organization, Vanguard America, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. Source
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