Police say truck loaded with masked Patriot Front extremists arrested near Idaho City’s Pride event

A truck loaded with masked men from the Patriotic Front extremist group was seized near an Idaho City Pride in the Park event, police said.

Law enforcement stopped a U-haul lorry in downtown Coeur d’Alene on Saturday afternoon and detained 31 people, all dressed in the same outfit, who were inside, according to KREM2.

The men inside All U-hauls wear the same clothes, blue shirts, beige hats, and a white cloth covers their faces. The police handcuffed them with lanyards, put them in a police car, and they were taken away from the scene.

Police say the men had shields, shin guards, riot gear and a smoke grenade when they stopped the vehicle.

“They came to cause riots in the city center,” said city police chief Lee White at a news conference on Saturday.

Members of the group were charged with conspiracy to riot, a misdemeanor, and police said they had “an operation plan” with them.

Police say they were duped by a “relevant citizen” who saw men “who looked like a small army” loaded onto a lorry at a hotel, not from one person. provide information in groups.

Investigators say the members are from states around the country and are in the process of being arrested and the sheriff says the men have Patriotic Front logos on their clothes and hats.

Those arrested were from Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, as well as other states, police said.

“It doesn’t seem like they’re here to participate in peaceful events,” Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said. Press Coeur d’Alene.

Video on social media shows police in tactical gear forcing the men to their knees and putting their hands behind their backs.

The Patriotic Front is described by the Anti-Defamation League as a white extremist group.

Police said there were groups walking around the Pride event with long guns, shotguns and bear sprays.