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The white supremacist group Patriot Front appears to be continuing activities in Alabama, as a Birmingham resident posted a photo on social media last week showing several masked men walking in the Highland Park neighborhood.
According to WTVM in Birmingham, a Reddit user posted the photo of the masked men, saying they had taped over a license plate on their car and were attempting to hang a banner over Highway 280.
The group most recently appeared in Prattville to protest a peaceful pride picnic downtown, dressed in their typical ensemble of gaiter-style face masks, sunglasses and baseball hats in an apparent attempt to conceal their identities and intimidate others.
The group has had activities in Birmingham dating back to at least 2022, primarily through graffiti and vandalism. The group also hacked a road sign on I-65 near Clanton earlier this year.
The Prattville event is the only event has far where the members have shown up in person, with at least one member raising his voice toward the LGBTQ+ group and saying their “deplorable acts have been rejected by the common man.”
APR was able to identify that man as Wesley Van Horn, the leader of the Patriot Front chapter, or “network,” that covers North Alabama as well as portions of Tennessee and Georgia.
Leaked internal communications from the group show a previous excursion by the group to put up graffiti in Birmingham.
Van Horn will stand trial this week in Couer D’alene, Idaho on a charge of conspiracy to commit a riot, one of 31 Patriot Front members arrested on such a charge in June 2022 at a planned pride event there. Five of Van Horn’s co-conspirators have already been found guilty. The jury trial is expected to conclude Friday.
