A meeting between police and a team Heavily armed men This Saturday caused tension in the state Massachusetts And forced the partial closure of Interstate 95 (I-95).
State Police Colonel Christopher Mason said Saturday that the suspects surrendered after tactical groups surrounded the group with armored vehicles.
Police say two men have been admitted to hospital for health issues unrelated to the episode.
The group “Rise of the Moors”
It all started this early Saturday morning, at around 1:30 a.m. ET, when officers spotted two cars on the side of I-95 with their emergency lights on. According to the media, they were loading petrol in their own cans.
Mason described the place, Police met a “dozen” men dressed in military style and carrying long and short arms. When police stopped them and told them to lay down their weapons, The men initially refused, disobeying the orders of the authorities, arguing that they belonged to “unrecognized” laws.
The group refused to give police their identities, and soon, gunmen entered the woods outside I-95.
Authorities immediately called for reinforcements. The incident then turned to the side of the road. Although there were no shots, the situation lasted for several hours, until 10:00 a.m. ET, when all the suspects were detained by police.
According to Southern Poverty Law Center, Is a Moorish Sovereign Citizens Movement, a group of organizations and individuals that emerged within the anti-government Sovereign Citizens Movement in the early 1990s, ensuring that citizens have sovereignty and are independent of the power of the central and state governments.
It is not clear whether ‘Rise of the Moors’ is particularly associated with that movement. On your site Web, There is a legend that they describe themselves as “Moorish Americans” trying to “train new Moors and influence our elders”.
In a broadcast on his YouTube channel, a member of the group said Saturday: “We are not anti-government or anti-police. We are not extremists with a black identity.” However, Colonel Mason said he was investigating his “motives” and “ideology.”
Middlesex County attorney Marion Ryan said it was not yet clear what charges the men, who are expected to appear in court in Woburn next Tuesday, would face.
I-95 and long weekend
The incident closed the arterial I-95 between major states in both directions in North Wakefield Boston, In the middle of a long week of celebrating July 4, Independence Day, In which millions of people travel across the country.
