Witness video captured police in northwest Idaho rounding up more than two dozen members of a white nationalist group on Saturday (June 11) before charging them with planning to stage a riot near a LGBTQ pride event.
The video showed about 20 men kneeling beside the truck with their hands bound, wearing similar khaki pants, blue shirts, white masks and baseball caps.
Lee White, police chief in the city of Coeur D'Alene, told reporters that 31 members of Patriot Front face misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot and additional charges could come later.
A local resident spotted the men, wearing white masks and carrying shields, getting into a U-Haul truck and called police, telling the emergency dispatcher it "looked like a little army," according to White.
Police pulled the truck over about 10 minutes after the call.
Police recovered at least one smoke grenade and documents that included an "operations plan" from the truck, plus shields and shin guards.
The men come from at least 11 states, White said, including Texas, Colorado and Virginia.
Patriot Front formed in the aftermath of the 2017 white nationalist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, when it broke off from another extremist organization, Vanguard America, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.
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