Authorities arrested 31 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Entrance close to an Idaho delight occasion Saturday after they had been discovered packed into the again of a U-Haul truck with riot gear.
The lads had been standing contained in the truck carrying khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas overlaying their faces when Coeur d’Alene police stopped the U-Haul and commenced arresting them on the facet of the street.
“They got here to riot downtown,” Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White stated at a information convention.
All 31 had been charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, White stated. The lads had been going by the reserving course of Saturday afternoon and are scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, he stated.
Based mostly on proof collected and paperwork, authorities discovered that the group was planning to riot in a number of areas of downtown, not simply the park, White stated.
Police discovered riot gear, one smoke grenade, shin guards and shields contained in the van, White stated. They wore arm patches and logos on their hats that recognized them as members of Patriot Entrance, he stated.
Police discovered in regards to the U-Haul from a tipster, who reported that “it seemed like just a little military was loading up into the car” within the car parking zone of a lodge, White stated. Officers noticed the truck quickly after and pulled it over, he stated.
Movies of the arrest posted on social media present the lads kneeling on the grass with their palms zip-tied behind their backs.
“Reclaim America” was written on the again of 1 shirt.
Police led the lads, one after the other, to the entrance of patrol automobiles, took off their masks after which introduced them to a police van.
These arrested got here from at the least 11 states, together with Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas, White stated.
Just one was from Idaho, he stated.
The truck was stopped close to the place the North Idaho Pleasure Alliance was holding the Coeur d’Alene Pleasure within the Park occasion. Police had stepped up their presence within the space through the occasion.
“It seems these individuals didn’t come right here to interact in peaceable occasions,” Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris informed a Coeur d’Alene Press reporter.
Patriot Entrance is described by the Southern Poverty Regulation Heart as “a white nationalist hate group” that fashioned after the lethal “Unite the Proper” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
“Patriot Entrance focuses on theatrical rhetoric and activism that may be simply distributed as propaganda for its chapters throughout the nation,” the Southern Poverty Regulation Heart stated of the group.
The group’s manifesto requires the formation of a white ethnostate in the US, the Southern Poverty Regulation Heart stated.
