Proud Boys chief Enrique Tarrio (centre) has been arrested in Washington DC (Image: AP)
The chief of the far-right Proud Boys group has been arrested after allegedly burning a Black Lives Matter flag.
Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio, 36, was detained by police after arriving in Washington DC forward of protests deliberate by Donald Trump’s supporters.
He was taken into custody after a warrant was issued for his arrest for destruction of property, police say.
Tarrio has reportedly admitted torching a flag taken from a historic black church throughout a rally in December.
A Black Lives Matter flag is about on hearth throughout a pro-Trump rally in December (Image: Amy Harris/REX)
The professional-Trump rally final month resulted in violence on the streets of Washington DC (Image: Amy Harris/REX)
He was additionally dealing with weapons costs after officers discovered him with two high-capacity firearm magazines when he was arrested.
A professional-Trump rally in December resulted in violence as a whole lot of the president’s supporters, some sporting the signature black and yellow of the Proud Boys, confronted counter-protesters trying to bar them from Black Lives Matter Plaza, an space close to the White Home.
By dusk, vandals tore down a Black Lives Matter banner and signal from two historic black church buildings in downtown Washington and set the banner ablaze.
Video posted on-line confirmed individuals pouring an accelerant on a Black Lives Matter banner close to the Asbury United Methodist Church and setting it ablaze on the street as others cheered and cursed final month.
Proud Boys is a far-right group that helps Donald Trump (Image: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis through Getty)
Proud Boys clashed with counter-protesters in Washington DC (Image: Allison Dinner/Zuma Wire)
One of many movies confirmed somebody strolling up a few minute later and utilizing a hearth extinguisher to place out the flames.
Tarrio advised The Washington Submit he had participated within the burning of the Black Lives Matter banner and mentioned he would plead responsible to destruction of property and pay the church the price of the banner.
One other video confirmed males eradicating a Black Lives Matter signal on the Metropolitan AME Church.
‘We simply need to see justice be performed,’ the Reverend Dr Ianther Mills, senior pastor at Asbury, mentioned in an interview on Monday evening.
The church neighborhood is ‘in some methods after all feeling some reduction’ following the arrest, Dr Mills added.
Even so, she mentioned, ‘we nonetheless stay involved’ concerning the excessive variety of anticipated protesters within the space.
A police spokesman advised The Related Press final month that investigators have been probing the incidents as potential hate crimes, however no hate crime costs had been filed towards Tarrio.
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