Following the arrest of 31 men alleged to belong to a white supremacist group at an LGBTQ+ pride event in Idaho, the FBI joined the investigations of the incident.
According to CBS News senior investigative correspondent, Catherine Herridge, the FBI is providing support to local police to clarify the facts.
The Idaho police stated that they prevented a possible domestic terrorist attack last Saturday, when the 19 men were discovered in a truck U -Haul and subsequently arrested them, claiming that they intended to wreak havoc on the event that took place in the city of Coreur d’Alene.
When the truck was searched, they recovered equipment that included shields, shin guards and a smoke grenade, reported CBS News.
At the moment, the 31 people arrested face a misdemeanor conspiracy to commit a crime. Authorities believe they are members of a white supremacist group linked to violent rallies in the past.
“They came downtown to cause a riot,” said the Coeur d’ police chief. Alene, Lee White.
According to the police chief, the group of detainees appear to be affiliated with the Patriot Front, a group that monitors extremist ideology, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center. They are also believed to promote fascism and the creation of a white ethnic state.
The The group was founded in 2017 after breaking away from a neo-Nazi organization that participated in the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a terrorist attack when a man drove into a crowd of anti-white supremacist protesters, killing one person and injuring 19.
The United States has seen a greater increase in violence by white supremacists. In the events on Saturday, the apparent target was the LGBTQ+ community event, which organizers say was the largest ever seen in northern Idaho.
The defendants are scheduled to be processed Monday, police said. Among the defendants is Patriot Front leader Thomas Ryan Rousseau, from Grapevine, Texas. More charges could be pending for those involved.