Police Arrest 31 Men with Ties To Hate Group at Idaho Pride Event
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Police in the town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho arrested 31 men hiding in a U-Haul van who planned to riot at a pride event here, the largest in Northern Idaho.
Police stopped a U-haul in downtown Coeur d’Alene on Saturday afternoon and arrested 31 people who were found inside. Police said they believe the people arrested have ties to a white nationalist hate group.
“They came to riot downtown,” Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said at a news conference.
Police were alerted to the group when a concerned person called police around 1:38 p.m. That person reported seeing the group loading into a U-haul that was parked at the Springhill Suites. The group had masks and shields and police said the caller told them it “looked like a little army.”
Police spotted the U-haul about 10 minutes later and stopped it on Northwest Boulevard near the skate park and Paul Bunyan, not far from the area where a Coeur d’Alene Pride event was taking place. Police had stepped up their presence in the area during the event.
Police and deputies surrounded the truck and when they opened it up they found dozens of men in the back, all wearing the same clothes, including khakis, with navy blue shirts, beige hats, and a white cloth covering their faces.
Based on evidence collected at the scene and documents police found in the U-haul, Chief White said that they believe the group was planning to riot in several areas of downtown Coeur d’Alene, not just the park.
“It appears they did not come here to engage in peaceful events,” Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told our partner the Coeur d’Alene Press.
Chief White said all 31 people were arrested on charges of conspiracy to riot. Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas.
The men are being booked into the Kootenai County Jail. They are expected to appear in court on Monday.
BREAKING: Authorities have stopped this Uhaul and detained approximately 20 people. They all have the same type of clothing on. Truck was stopped about 1/8th mile from the pride event. We’re working to get more info from police. @KREM2 pic.twitter.com/bez1msBz45
— Kyle Simchuk (@KyleSimchuk) June 11, 2022
Police in Coeur d’Alene arrested 31 masked members of a white nationalist group suspected of conspiring to riot in the city’s downtown on the same day as a scheduled and nearby Pride in the Park event.
The arrested men of “Patriot Front” arrived in Coeur d’Alene inside a U-Haul truck that police pulled over for a traffic stop. Only one was from Idaho. The rest came from Washington, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. Among the arrested is the national leader of the group, Tom Rosseau.
A group of men in blue shirts and masks are detained on Northwest Boulevard near the skate park. The reason is unclear. @ISPNorthIdaho, @KootenaiSheriff and Coeur d’Alene police are on scene. pic.twitter.com/vLoDKlqQkj
— Garrett Cabeza (@CabezaGarrett) June 11, 2022
Police were tipped off by a citizen who said they saw a large group of people wearing masks and donning shields looking “like a little army” jump into a U-Haul truck Saturday afternoon at a hotel parking lot, White said.
About 10 minutes later police pulled over the truck as it traveled toward downtown on Northwest Boulevard. Police also seized a smoke grenade and what White described as riot gear from the truck.
“I don’t think this would have been as successful had we not had one extremely astute citizen who saw something that looked very concerning to them and reported it to us,” White said.
The Pride in the Park event had drawn many other people to the downtown area to celebrate people who identify as LBGTQ+.
Patriot Front is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “a white nationalist hate group” that broke off from a similar far-right group after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
“Patriot Front focuses on theatrical rhetoric and activism that can be easily distributed as propaganda for its chapters across the country,” the SSPLC said of the group.
The group has a manifesto that calls for the formation of a “white ethnostate” in the United States. Their brand of activism often consists of posting flyers and other advertisements in public places that promote an extremist brand of patriotism, according to the SPLC.
Photos show some of the men wearing shirts that read, “RECLAIM AMERICA,” while one said, “Conquerors not Thieves,” an apparent reference to the belief that white colonialists were within their rights to take Native Americans’ lands.
Patrick Runkle, Mariah Berquam and her 2-year-old daughter Aurora, sported rainbow tutus and black shirts that said “Equality” in rainbow colors across the chest.
Runkle said he wanted to show Coeur d’Alene is an accepting place and that it can overcome the negative light some people place on the LGBTQ community.
