LOOK: Idaho police arrest 31 people planning to 'riot' at park hosting Pride event

Police officers guard a group of men, who police say are among 31 arrested for conspiracy to riot and are affiliated with the white nationalist group Patriot Front, after they were found in the rear of a U Haul van in the vicinity of a North Idaho Pride Alliance LGBTQ+ event in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Picture: North Country Off Grid/Youtube/via Reuters

Published Jun 12, 2022

By Nick Parker and Bryan Pietsch

Police in Idaho arrested 31 people who had masks, white supremacist insignia, shields and an "operations plan" to riot at a park hosting an LGBTQ Pride parade on Saturday afternoon, authorities said.

Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Lee White said authorities received a tip about a "little army" loading into a U-Haul truck at a hotel Saturday afternoon. Police from the city, county and state pulled over the truck about 10 minutes later, White said.

Many were wearing logos from the Patriot Front, a white supremacist group that rebranded after one of its members plowed his car into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville in August 2017, killing anti-racism protester Heather Heyer.

White said the people - dressed similarly in the Patriot Front's signature khaki pants - were headed to City Park, which was hosting Pride in the Park. Organizers for the event did not immediately respond to The Washington Post's call or email seeking comment Saturday evening.

"They came to riot downtown," White said, with documents "similar to an operations plan that a police or military group would put together for an event."

He did not see firearms at the scene of the arrest, he said, but stressed that the situation was "very fresh. We haven't begun to do interviews."

A police officer guards a U Haul van after 31 people affiliated with the white nationalist group Patriot Front were arrested for conspiracy to riot, who were found in the rear of a U Haul van in the vicinity of a North Idaho Pride Alliance LGBTQ+ event in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Picture: John Rudoff/Reuters

He said the people in the truck would be charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanour. More information from officials probably will not come until "Monday at the earliest," White said, but more charges are possible. Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said their first court appearance probably would be Monday.

Authorities had been aware of online threats leading up to the weekend, White said, so police had increased their presence in downtown Coeur d'Alene. Two Swat teams and officers from the city, county and state assisted in the arrest.

The people in the truck were from several states, but jail authorities had not booked them all before the Saturday afternoon news conference, White said.

White said police had been in touch with the FBI "all day."