US white supremacists found guilty of gay pride riot plot

BBC 

An Idaho jury has convicted five members of a white supremacist hate group for plotting to riot at a gay pride event.

The men and dozens other members of the Patriot Front group were arrested last June after a resident spotted them with masks and shields getting into a lorry.

Police were called and found riot gear and a smoke grenade in the vehicle.

The lorry was stopped near where the North Idaho Pride Alliance was holding an event in the city of Coeur d'Alene .

Photos and videos emerged on social media at the time, showing the accused in masks kneeling on the grass with their hands tied behind their backs.

The police said they were alerted by a local resident, who called them to say that it "looked like a little army" was loading up into the lorry.

Forrest Rankin, Devin Center, Derek Smith, James Michael Johnson and Robert Whitted were convicted on Thursday of misdemeanour charges of conspiracy to riot. and are due for sentencing later on Friday.

The prosecution argued that the group's conduct rather than its message was the focus of the case.

The men had intended to riot and to approach people attending the pride event in a "tumultuous manner", said Ryan Hunter, deputy city attorney, in his closing arguments on Thursday.

Patriot Front was formed in 2017 after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The group's manifesto calls for the formation of a white ethnostate in the US, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

"Patriot Front focuses on theatrical rhetoric and activism that can be easily distributed as propaganda for its chapters across the country," the SPLC said of the group.

The anti-racism organisation ADL says Patriot Front belongs to the alt-right segment of white supremacists, but claims to be "patriotic". It has called for "American Fascism", describing it as a "return to the traditions and virtues of our forefathers", ADL says.

The group's manifesto claims that non-whites are not "Americans" and its symbols include the fasces - a Roman bundle of sticks representing authority and used last century by Mussolini's Italian Fascists, ADL says.