(Coeur D’alene) Authorities arrested 31 members of a white supremacist group who prepared to attack attendees of a Pride party in Idaho, United States, on Saturday.
Posted yesterday at 9:44 p.m.
These individuals associated with the group called “Patriot Front” were spotted crammed into the back of a “U-Haul” truck and equipped to start a riot.
By the time Coeur d’Alene City Police officers pulled over the vehicle, the men were standing in the back of the truck and wearing tan pants, blue shirts, tan caps and white balaclavas.
“They came to start a riot downtown,” said Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White at a press conference.
The 31 men were charged with conspiring to riot, mischief, Chief White said. They are expected to appear in court on Monday.
According to evidence and documents seized by authorities, the group was preparing to wreak havoc in several places in the city center and not just in the park, where the party was taking place, the forces said. ‘order.
Photo KXLY, provided by REUTERS
Officers found riot gear, including a smoke grenade, shin guards and shields in the van. Chief White added that the suspects sported logos in the colors of their hate group.
This is information transmitted to the police by an informant who put them on the trail of the vehicle. The information spoke of “a small army piling up” in the truck in the parking lot of a hotel. The police quickly located the vehicle and made the arrests.
Videos of the police action posted on social media show the suspects kneeling on the grass with their hands tied behind their backs.
The police led the suspects one by one to a patrol vehicle where they were removed from their balaclavas before putting them into a van.
The 31 individuals came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia and Arkansas.
Only one of the suspects was from Idaho, Chief White said.
The truck was pulled over near the location of the Coeur d’Alene Pride in the Park event, hosted by the Idaho Pride Alliance. The police presence had been reinforced in anticipation of the celebration.
“It appears that these people did not come here to participate in peaceful events,” Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told local media.
The Patriot Front group is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “a white supremacist hate group” that formed following the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.