COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — A Northwest Arkansas man is among a group of more than 30 people arrested this weekend in connection to a possible planned riot in Idaho.
The group is believed to be tied to a hate group and was arrested near the site of a Pride Month festival in Idaho.
Devin Wayne Center, 22, of Fayetteville was among those arrested in Coeur d'Alene Idaho.
He is being cited for criminal conspiracy after he was found in the back of a U-Haul truck along with 31 others who police say planned to riot at that Idaho Pride Parade. Center's court date is set for Aug. 15 at 1 p.m.
Back in March, we first told you about the white supremacist group Patriot Front after signs with the group's name on them were being put up in Fayetteville and on the University of Arkansas campus.
While they don’t necessarily say anything threatening on them, members of minority communities are threatened by them because of what the group stands for.
“What’s going to happen next? Is the next shooting going to be at our synagogue? When’s the next hate crime going to happen? Is that when people are finally going to care and realize that we are actually scared?” said Toby Klein.
Toby Klein is the graduate advisor to the Hillel Jewish Student Union at the University of Arkansas. She spoke to us about the posters that were showing up on campus in March.
The posters read “for the nation, against the state." Another poster read “revolution is tradition” and “America first."
“This is white supremacy, it exists within our communities and it’s unfortunate that a lot of us in the community worry that it was someone in our community, and that’s our worst fear come true,” she said.
The Southern Poverty Law Center says Patriot Front promotes fascist ideology and the "white ethnostate." The group was founded in 2017 as a spinoff of the white supremacy group called Vanguard. Vanguard was the organization responsible for the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA.
“They are twisting and manipulating and misusing the idea of patriotism... but promoting a white-supremacist version of patriotism,” said Cynthia Miller-Idriss.
Cynthia Miller-Idriss is the director of the American University Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab. Cynthia Miller-Idriss tracks domestic extremism at American University and told us Patriot Front's members are overwhelmingly young, white men.
“We're seeing this broadening out of the targets that people across the supremacist spectrum are choosing to intimidate or harass or harm. It is part of a broader range of anti-democratic and extremist types of events that are happening,” said Miller-Idriss.
"It's kind of scary to know that just existing, is that dangerous," Queer NWA Founder Kris Tucker.
According to public state records, the man police believe is a member of the group, Devin Center, has never been convicted of a crime in Arkansas.
"If we don't go, we're perpetuating, one, that we can be scared out of this," said Tucker. "We can be scared out of our own rights."
Sunday also marked six years since the mass shooting that killed 49 people at the Orlando LGBTQ club Pulse, said Troy Williams with Equality Utah in Salt Lake City.
It's really robust because we don't need Idaho to remind us that something could go wrong,” said NWA Equality Director of Programs Megan Turlock.
Those arrested came from at least 11 states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Wyoming, Virginia, and Arkansas.
“We can't control that hate,” Turlock said. We have to take responsibility for safety plans and we've done, then, we have to live our lives."
Center's court date is set for August 15 at 3 p.m. CST.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Stay with 5NEWS for updates on this developing story.
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