31 masked men arrested near Idaho pride event

31 Patriot Front members arrested near Idaho pride event

A U-Haul truck with 31 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front was spotted parked near an Idaho pride celebration Saturday with riot gear in the back.

When Coeur d’Alene police halted the U-Haul and began arresting the men, they were standing inside the vehicle wearing khakis, navy blue shirts, and beige hats with white balaclavas covering their faces.

At a press conference, Chief Lee White of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department remarked, “They came to riot downtown.”

A misdemeanor conspiracy to riot charge was filed against each of the 31 people, White said in a statement. They were being booked Saturday afternoon and would be arraigned on Monday, according to the man who spoke to the media.

In addition to the park, authorities discovered that the gang was planned to riot in other parts of the city, White said in an interview.

A smoke grenade, shin guards, and shields were found in the van, according to White. He claimed they had arm patches and hat emblems identifying them as Patriot Front members.

According to White, a tipster told police that a U-Haul was loading up in the parking lot of a hotel and that it “appeared like a little army was loading up into the car.” The truck was found soon after and stopped by authorities, he claimed.

Footage of the arrest shows the men kneeling on the ground with their wrists zip-tied behind their backs.

One of the shirts has “Reclaim America” inscribed on the back.

The men, one by one, were led to the front of patrol cars, where they were taken off their masks and taken to a police van.

In addition to Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, and Arkansas (as well as South Dakota), the suspects were detained in at least 11 other states, including Illinois, Wyoming, and Virginia, according to White.

He said that only one of them was from Idaho.

The vehicle was parked near the Coeur d’Alene Pride in the Park event held by the North Idaho Pride Alliance. During the event, police had increased their presence in the vicinity.

Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told a reporter for the Coeur d’Alene Press that “it looks these people did not come here to partake in peaceful events.”

After the tragic “Unite the Right” protest in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, the Southern Poverty Law Center labels Patriot Front “a white nationalist hate group.” Patriot Front came into existence shortly after the rally.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, “Patriot Front concentrates on theatrical rhetoric and activism, which can be easily circulated as propaganda for its chapters around the country.”.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the group’s manifesto calls for the establishment of a white ethnostate in the United States.