Rightwing vigilantes on armed patrol after fake rumours of antifa threat

False social media rumors about so-called antifa activists traveling en masse into rural areas of America have led rightwing vigilantes to carry out armed patrols of small cities and towns in the western United States and beyond.

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In some cases, local activists planning peaceful protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and in protest at the killing of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer have been inundated with death threats.

Since Donald Trump tweeted recently that antifa would be declared a terrorist group, the term has gained broader currency on the American right and is seen as a dire threat. In fact, it simply means “anti-fascist” and is used to describe a wide spectrum of leftist and anarchist groups and individuals. It has no existence as a separate organization.

The FBI has said there is “no evidence”NBC News has reported of antifa involvement in violence linked to the Floyd protests and one supposed antifa group posting violent rhetoric on the internet was in fact linked to white supremacists.

But in the Idaho city of Coeur d’Alene groups of 30-50 men armed with semi-automatic weapons have occupied downtown streets on successive evenings this week, guarding against supposed busloads of radical leftists rumored to traveling from cities such as Spokane or Seattle, according to local residents and social media materials obtained by the Guardian.

Videos posted to social media by supporters of the vigilante groups showed dozens of people walking up and down a downtown shopping strip, with many open-carrying AR-15s and other semi-automatic long guns, and sporting tactical apparel.

In a cellphone video, as a videographer pans over the scene, he is heard to say: “If you guys are thinking of coming to Coeur D’Alene, to riot or loot, you’d better think again. Because we ain’t having it in our town.”

He adds: “I guess there’s a big rumor that people from Spokane are gonna come out here and act up. But that shit ain’t gonna happen.”

In a separate video, a YouTube personality associated with the “prepper” survivalist movement filming the same scene is heard to say: “There’a a lot of good guys with guns out here. I don’t think they’ll be setting foot in Idaho.”

A gallery posted to Facebook by a local photographer who has supported rightwing causes showed some of the armed men bear the insignia of conservative militia groups such as the Three Percenters, and the Fallen Saints, a motorcycle club made up of veterans and active duty soldiers.

Also in the town of just over 50,000 residents, almost five hours’ drive east from Seattle, storekeepers were reportedly boarding up shop windows on Tuesday night ahead of an antifa influx that never came, and for which there was no evidence.

The only encounter that the impromptu militia had on either Monday or Tuesday night was with other locals, peacefully protesting in sympathy with Floyd.

On Wednesday night, some social media users redoubled their efforts to mobilize vigilantes, despite the fact that no radical leftists had arrived in the city.

Similar rumors have led to threats to young activists, and proposals that armed vigilantes mount downtown rooftops in Sonora, a city of 4,600 innorthern California, when a local protest condemning the death of Floyd was being planned.

In video and audio recordings of a public meeting held on Tuesday night in the city, a crowd of about 100 local residents is addressed by a succession of speakers associated with the secessionist and pro-militia “State of Jefferson” movement, which seeks to carve out a new state f in northern California and southern Oregon, and militia groups like the Oath Keepers and the Northern California militia.

In one speech, the Tuolumne county committee chair of the State of Jefferson, David Titchenal, instructs the crowd to organize in order to provide a “visual deterrent to potential looters and rioters, who may not be from Tuolumne county”. He should they should take up firing positions on top of buildings and become “roof rednecks”.

He also asks them to secure critical infrastructure and the entrances to the city.

Later, the crowd was addressed by Sonora chief of police, Turu VanderWiel. While urging people not to attend armed, VanderWiel appeared to endorse the plan for vigilante action, saying in a video recorded at the event, “as for coming out, I very much appreciate it. Extra eyes, extra bodies, standing together as a community.”

VanderWiel did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the event.

Organizers of the Floyd protest in Sonora, meanwhile, passed on evidence of social media threats, and said that their cars were followed in the nights leading up to the event.

One organizer, whose name has been withheld for safety reasons, said that no one outside the community had been involved in organizing the event, and their plan was simply “to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement”.

“We just believe that black lives matter,” they added, but they had been subject to threats, including one from a local resident threatening to “riot” in their workplace.

A livestream of the entirely peaceful event shared by a local media outlet shows it was counter-protested by scores of people in “all lives matter shirts”, and a large contingent sent by an out of town motorcycle club. At one point in the video, a member of that club appears to hurl a racial slur at the demonstrators.

Similar rumors have animated large demonstrations or counter-protests by armed vigilantes in many cities around the country including Snohomish, Washington; Sandpoint, Idaho; and Bentonville, Arkansas.

In Forks, Washington, a family of four campers were harassed by locals who thought they were outside agitators and trees were cut down to form an impromptu roadblock, trapping them in their campsite.

In an email, Lindsay Schubiner, the program director at the progressive Western States Center, said: “Far-right and anti-government groups are eagerly helping spread misinformation about anti-fascist protesters gathering in local communities.”

She added: “The rumors may not be true, but extremist groups find them useful for activating their supporters and sowing turmoil and division. We encourage law enforcement, media and the general public to carefully evaluate claims and guard against spreading misinformation.”