Why was Enrique Tarrio arrested? Proud Boys leader held for burning BLM flag at Black church in Washington DC
Enrique Tarrio, leader of the far-right group Proud Boys, has been accused of destroying a Black Lives Matter sign at a Black church in Washington DC. He was arrested on January 4 for the same. Tarrio, who is a resident of Miami, was arrested on entering the city. He also had two high capacity firearms, which added to additional gun charges.
The Metropolitan Police Department released a statement saying that Tarrio was arrested and charged with destruction of property with regard to the incident last month where he burnt Black Lives Matter banner at a church after a Trump rally, which featured right-wing figures such as conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Tarrio, who is a convicted felon, sees additional charges on account of "Possession of High Capacity Feeding Device". He also boasted about burning the banner on social media. Eight other unidentified members of the Proud Boys have also been linked to this incident, which took place on December 12.
The church, Asbury United Methodist Church, which happens to be the city's oldest Black house of worship, filed a complaint in the DC Superior Court and has accused Tarrio and the eight members of "engaging in acts of terror and vandalizing church property in an effort to intimidate the Church and silence its support for racial justice". Tario's arrest comes in light of the fact that there have implications of protests to take place in the capital over the weekend. With local law enforcement officials on high alert, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser asked residents to avoid the downtown area. Currently, a need for a curfew, to discourage violence is being evaluated.
The Proud Boys are an all-right, new fascist, male-only political organization that's present in the US and Canada. The group engages in political violence and believes that men and western culture are under attack, their views heavily reflect White genocide conspiracy theory which talks about the elimination of White people. Multiple of their events are heavily racist in nature and are based around anti-antics, anti-left and anti-socialist ideologies. Tarrio has been the chairman of the group since early 2019.
Tarrio was convicted of theft in 2004. He was sentenced to three years of probation, community service and ordered to pay restitution. He was convicted again in 2013, on account of rebranding and selling stolen medical devices. He was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, of which he only served 16.
Tarrio also serves as chief of staff of Latinos for Trump, a booster group with links to the White House.