“Based on the equipment that people had with them, the things they had, the U-Haul with them, along with the documents that were confiscated from them, it is clear that they came to riots in the city center. “, Coeur d. “Alain Police Chief Lee White told a news conference.
The FBI is assisting local police in their investigation, according to FBI Public Affairs Specialist Sandra Yi Barker. Barker said the Coeur d’Alene police is the leading law enforcement agency investigating the situation.
All the detainees were dressed in similar clothes related to the Patriotic Front, including identical insignia, and there was at least one smoke grenade in them, police said.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Patriot Front is a group of white supremacy whose members maintain that their ancestors conquered America and left it to them. The group split from another white supremacist group, Vanguard America, in late August 2017, according to ADL.
White said the group was equipped with “shields, shin guards and other anti-riot equipment”, along with documents he described as “similar to an operational plan that a police or military group will draw up for the event”.
The 31 people have been arrested for plotting a riot, a crime said White, adding that the suspects came from at least 11 states.
Authorities released photos of the detainees on Sunday, all of whom have since released on bail and been released from custody, according to the Kutenai County Sheriff’s Office. They will be returned to the court at a later date.
Among those arrested was Patriotic Front leader Thomas Ryan Rousseau, according to a sergeant. Shane Moline from the sheriff’s office. Rousseau has since been released from Kutenai County Jail.
Rousseau, according to the ADL, led several dozen Vanguard America Texas members during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.
CNN contacted Rousseau’s legal representation, but did not receive an immediate response.
The operation in Coeur d’Alene began when a concerned citizen informed police that “approximately 20 people jumped into U-Haul. They had shields and looked like a small army,” White said.
There was no violence or significant disruption before the arrests were made, White said, adding: “Today has been relatively uninterrupted.
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