31 linked to white nationalist group arrested near Pride event in Idaho

Thirty-one people affiliated with the white nationalist group Patriot Front were arrested near an annual LGBTQ+ event Saturday in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, police said.

The suspects were booked on suspicion of conspiracy to riot, Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said at an afternoon news conference.

He said police were made aware in recent days that a number of groups planned to disrupt Pride in the Park, an annual event highlighting civil rights struggles for the LGBTQ+ communities.

Staffing was increased and awareness was heightened by the time dispatchers fielded a report of 20 people in a U-Haul vehicle Saturday afternoon, White said.

The suspects wore masks, had shields, and “looked like a little army,” he said, quoting the caller who reported the suspicious activity.

Ten minutes after that 1:38 p.m. U-Haul report, police stopped the vehicle and a total of 31 people in “similar attire” were arrested, the chief said.

Suspects resided in multiple states, including Texas, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Arkansas, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and Virginia, White said.

“They came to riot,” he said.

Without that citizen’s report of masked people in a U-Haul, he said, law enforcement may have been less effective in protecting Pride in the Park participants, the chief suggested.