The leader of the far-right group Proud Boys is arrested in Washington

Washington – Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the far-right group Proud Boys, was arrested this Monday in Washington, where he planned to participate on Wednesday in a massive protest in support of the outgoing president Donald Trump, Confirmed the local police.

Tarrio, of Cuban descent, was arrested when he arrived in the capital from Miami, where he lives, on charges related to the burning of a banner with the slogan “Black Lives Matter” that he withdrew last month from a black historic church in the city.

The leader of the far-right group faces a charge of destruction of property, a misdemeanor, in addition to two other charges for possession of firearms with extra capacity for bullets, according to police sources quoted by The Washington Post .

The Proud Boys group has gained the highest profile in recent months among far-right organizations that support Trump, and both Tarrio and his supporters planned to participate this Wednesday in a mega-protest in support of the president in the capital .

“The Proud Boys will take to the streets in unprecedented numbers, but this time with a difference,” Tarrio recently explained on the social network Parler, used by many conservatives.

“We will not wear our traditional black and yellow uniform. We will be incognito and scattered throughout downtown Washington DC in smaller squads,” he added.

Tarrio, who was also involved in the Latins for Trump organization during the election campaign, acknowledged in December in an interview with the Washington Post that he had ripped off the church banner and burned it.

“I did,” the activist said, and has advanced that he planned to plead guilty and pay the church for the cost of the banner if he was formally charged.

However, his arrest came apparently by surprise for Tarrio, who was entering the US capital on Monday in a vehicle when police stopped the car and arrested him.

Local police did not rule out that federal authorities could file charges against Tarrio for hate crimes, which could lead to higher sentences.

Tarrio denied in December that his actions were guided by a racist motivation against blacks, and has claimed that his problem with the “Black Lives Matter” movement was that, in his opinion, they had “landed” in the country during the last year’s protests against police brutality.

The Proud Boys have ties to white supremacist groups, but Tarrio has generally tried to dodge that label, which other members of his organization do embrace more freely.

In addition to the Proud Boys, another half a dozen groups loyal to Trump have called for a rally in Washington on Wednesday that the outgoing president is expected to approach.

The march will coincide with the meeting in Congress for the formal and final counting of the Electoral College votes, which give Democrat Joe Biden the victory in the November election.

Several Republicans in Congress plan to challenge electoral votes in some key states, promising to delay for hours the ratification process of Biden’s victory, though there are no real options to change the election result.