Washington – The leader of the far-right Proud Boys group has been arrested in Washington DC on suspicion of burning a Black Lives Matter flag last month.
Enrique Tarrio faces misdemeanour destruction of property charges, police say.
He has reportedly admitted torching a banner taken from a black church during a rally in December in the city.
United States President Donald Trump has been urging supporters to gather in the capital this week for another demonstration.
On Wednesday, members of Congress are due to certify Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory before he takes office on January 20.
Tarrio has said on the social media app Parler that the Proud Boys will “turn out in record numbers on Jan 6”, referring to his members as “the most notorious group of extraordinary gentlemen”.
The National Guard has been deployed by Washington DC’s mayor to assist local authorities. Officials say the troops will not be armed and will be there to assist with crowd management and traffic control.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department, Dustin Sternbeck, told the Washington Post on Monday that Tarrio had been stopped in a vehicle shortly after it entered the district.
The 36-year-old was also found during his arrest to be in unlawful possession of two devices that allow guns to hold additional bullets, a source told CBS News.
The destruction of property charge relates to a protest in Washington DC on December 12 in support of the outgoing Republican president’s unsubstantiated claims of systemic election fraud.
The mostly peaceful demonstration ended in isolated scuffles as confrontations with counter-protesters broke out. Police said more than three dozen people were arrested and four churches were vandalised.
Tarrio – who lives in Miami, where he also reportedly runs a grassroots organisation called Latinos for Trump – told the Washington Post at the time that he had burned the Black Lives Matter flag. (BBC)
