- Proud Boys President Enrique Tarrio was banned from DC before this week’s “wild” pro-Trump rally.
- A higher court judge included a removal order as a condition of release for Tarrio’s recent arrest on charges that he burned a Black Lives Matter flag.
- The judge said it was the least restrictive measure, as Tarrio posted on Parler that he would burn another Black Lives Matter flag.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
The Proud Boys president was banned from Washington, DC, ahead of this week’s pro-Trump rally.
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was arrested Monday night on a property destruction order following a protest in mid-December that involved burning a Black Lives Matter flag belonging to a historically black church in the country’s capital.
When Tarrio was taken into custody, the police found two high-quality magazines with the Proud Boys logo on his bag, according to DC Superior Court documents seen by Insider.
The devices were unloaded and Tarrio told the police that he intended to sell them to someone he would meet in DC at the rally.
Tarrio was carrying large magazines at the time of his arrest, police said.
DC Superior Court documents.
Tarrio pleaded not guilty to property destruction and possession of a high-capacity ammunition feeding device accused Tuesday afternoon of his cell at the subway station.
Judge Renee Raymond ordered that Tarrio, who was detained overnight, be released on the condition that he stay outside the District of Columbia.
Raymond said he was imposing the condition because Tarrio recently posted a meme on the encrypted chat platform Parler indicating that he would burn another Black Lives Matter flag.
The leader of the Proud Boys also posted about burning the church banner on social media.
The burning of the flag occurred during the Trump rally on December 12, for which Tarrio previously told Insider that he was overseeing security.
Tarrio, who is Cuban-American, told Insider that Proud Boys – a recognized hate group linked to street fighting and violence in the United States – is not racist or white supremacist by nature, although he acknowledges that some members have these beliefs.
“Considering that there are many posters, banners and other elements of the Black Lives Matter in the District of Columbia, this will be the least restrictive condition” of release, said Judge Raymond.
At the time of his arrest, Tarrio was arriving before a pro-Trump demonstration planned to take place in the city this week. The demonstration is expected to coincide with the formalization of the results of the presidential elections by Congress on Wednesday.
Donald Trump, who continues to fuel conspiracy theories that President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory was fraudulent, recently tweeted that the demonstration would be “wild”.
The National Guard was activated to deal with crowd control this week.
Tarrio is due to return to court on June 8.
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