“The alleged actions by this defendant are an orchestrated effort to incite riots, incite looting and cause general mayhem. Thanks to the coordinated effort of the Peoria Police Department and the FBI, he was quickly identified and safely apprehended. We will use all available resources to identify bad actors and get them off the streets to keep our community safe,” said U.S. Attorney John Milhiser in a statement.
According to the USMS, Gibson appeared in several Facebook live videos on May 31. In one video, he stated clearly his intention of going to a demonstration to cause violence. In the other three videos, which were posted online by another person, he encouraged people to come together to riot.
On June 1, a Facebook account linked to Gibson appeared to be celebrating. The account posted “MISSION #SendPeoriaUp ACCOMPLISHED.”
The Peoria Police Department (PPD) further stated that, from 9 p.m. on May 31 to 6 a.m. on June 1, they received 26 reports of business burglaries, 14 reports of criminal damage to property and several reports of arson.
The PPD is working with the Springfield Division of the FBI to conduct an investigation. If Gibson is convicted, he could pay a fine of up to $250,000, spend up to five years in prison and three years of supervised release.
Many rioters engaged in violence since beginning of demonstrations
Gibson is not the only person who has been arrested for inciting violence. According to Attorney General William Barr, by Thursday federal authorities have arrested 51 people, including Gibson, for federal crimes related to the violence and rioting surrounding the death of George Floyd. AG Barr further said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been working around the clock with other federal agencies to try and restore order in the country.
Among the other people arrested is Matthew Lee Rupert, 28, from Illinois. Authorities state that Rupert was livestreaming himself handing out explosives at a riot and destroying private property. At one point, he exclaimed “We come to riot, boy” and at another point he said “I've got some bombs if some of you all want to throw them back” while handing out an item that had a brown casing and a green wick. Shortly after someone on Rupert's livestream threw the device, an explosion could be heard in the background.
Rupert was arrested in Chicago for violating curfew. During his arrest, police officers found him with several “destructive devices.”
More worrisome, many of the arrests strongly suggest that there's a coordinated effort to incite violence. (Related: Rioters in Washington, D.C. defaced a monument honoring the victims of communism.)
Three men from Las Vegas were charged with violating both state and federal laws for allegedly conspiring to cause violence and destruction during a riot in Las Vegas. They have also been charged with conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism.
The three men were also found to possess a Molotov cocktail, an improvised incendiary device commonly used by rioters to cause destruction. In the past few days, many other people have been found to possess Molotov cocktails, such as a couple in New York who threw a Molotov at an empty patrol car and a man from Milwaukee who, with two unidentified accomplices, attempted to set a store on fire.
Listen to the Health Ranger Report by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he talks about how President Donald Trump can protect the United States against Antifa's attempted communist revolution using the Insurrection Act.
Antifa hijacking legitimate, peaceful protests for their own agenda
According to AG Barr, law enforcement authorities are seeing “three different sets of actors” at the demonstrations. The first group are the legitimate, peaceful protesters exercising their rights under the First Amendment. The second group are people trying to use the cover of civil unrest to engage in looting. The third group are the violent and extremist agitators who hijack the peaceful protests for their own agendas. This third group includes Antifa and other radical and extremist groups similar to it. AG Barr states that there is a significant amount of evidence indicating that Antifa is to blame for the violence.
According to AG Barr, Antifa and other radical and extremist groups are either inciting violent activity or participating in it themselves. He also stated that “foreign actors” are dipping their hands in the civil unrest to exacerbate the violence.
AG Bar further said that Antifa have engaged in acts of domestic terrorism and will therefore be treated like terrorists.
In fact, there's even plenty of evidence showing that Antifa is organizing and training its members. In videos taken by undercover journalists working in Portland, Oregon, a chapter of Antifa known as Rose City Antifa are teaching their members how to avoid getting caught, how to cause a lot of chaos and, in their own words, how to “do dangerous things as safely as possible.”
In the videos, the undercover journalists infiltrated a gym where members of Antifa train themselves on how to fight law enforcement with moves such as eye gouging, punching the kidney and breaking one of the floating ribs.
The undercover journalist further stated that Rose City Antifa is organized and structured like a business and that there's a lot of evidence to suggest that they are receiving outside funding.
For more up-to-date news on where and how Antifa is currently operating, check out the articles at Antifa.news.
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