Law enforcement stopped a U-haul truck in downtown Coeur d’Alene on Saturday afternoon and arrested 31 people, all wearing the same uniform, who were inside, according to KREM2. The men inside the U-haul were all dressed the same in khaki, blue shirts, beige hats and a white cloth covering their faces. Police handcuffed them, put them in a police van and drove them away. Police said the men had shields, shin guards, riot gear and a smoke grenade with them when they stopped. “They came to revolt in the city center,” city police chief Lee White told a news conference Saturday. The members of the group were accused of conspiracy to revolt, of misdemeanor, and the police said that they had a “business plan” with them. Police said they were informed by an “anxious citizen” who saw the men “look like a small army” loading into a hotel truck and not from an informant inside the group. The investigators said the members came from states across the country and were in the process of being booked. The police chief said the men had Patriot Front logos on their clothes and hats. The detainees came from Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia and other states, according to police. “It seems they did not come here to take part in peaceful events,” Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told the Coeur d’Alene Press. Videos on social media showed police officers with regular equipment forcing men to kneel with their hands behind their backs. The Patriot Front is described by the Anti-Defamation League as a white supremacist group. Police said there were groups walking around the Pride event with long guns, pistols and bear spray.
