Members of the white nationalist group, Patriot Front, were detained on Saturday after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear, as they prepared to stage a riot near a Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Newsweek reports.
Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said officers got a call “from a concerned citizen who reported that approximately 20 people jumped into a U-Haul wearing masks, they had shields, and ‘looked like a little army.’” White said the group traveled from all over the country just to cause chaos at the event.
A clip posted to Twitter by Syrian journalist Alissa Azar shows members of the group detained with zip ties. They were wearing matching outfits consisting of dark blue shirts, beige pants, hats, sunglasses, and white masks covering the bottoms of their faces.
White said 31 individuals affiliated with the group were arrested and charged with conspiracy to riot. They are scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.
According to Southern Poverty Law Center, Patriot Front is a white nationalist hate group formed in 2017 after the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The group spreads its propaganda through theatrical rhetoric and activism which typically consists of anonymously posting flyers, hanging banners off buildings or overpasses or disrupting public events.
