Idaho police arrested 31 members of the Patriot Front, a white supremacist group, on Saturday after they were found packed in a U-Haul truck with riot gear near an LGBTQ pride event in Coeur d’Alene. inform AP.
Leading the news: All 31 members were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, a misdemeanor, after being found in the truck when it veered off a traffic stop, the Idaho Statesman reported.
- “They came to the riots in the city center,” Coeur d’Alene police chief Lee White said at a news conference Saturday for AP.
The big picture: Only one of the men in the truck was actually from Idaho, and the others were from South Dakota, Wyoming, Texas, and Oregon, among others, according to the Idaho statesman.
- The group’s national leader, Tom Rosseau, was among those arrested, the Idaho Statesman said.
- The men were wearing white balaclavas to cover their faces, as well as khaki pants and navy blue shirts, when Coeur d’Alene police discovered them in the truck, according to AP. The words “Reclaim America” were written on the back of a T-shirt.
- Evidence gathered indicated that the group had plans to riot in various places in the city center. Inside the U-Haul, police found shields, shin guards, riot gear and even a smoke grenade.
- Police saw the truck after an informant warned them that “it looked like a small army was loading into the vehicle” in a hotel parking lot, White told a news conference.
What happens next: The men will be tried on Monday.