Officials are growing concerned over increased collaboration between extremist groups in Georgia, according to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Justin Thayer, the leader of a group known as the Georgia III% Martyrs, is advocating for unity among paramilitary extremist groups following the arrests of those who participated in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Thayer told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution via a text exchange that the arrests of those who participated in the storming demonstrates the “way patriots are now being hunted down and arrested by fellow men and women who have taken the same oath.” Thayer says the arrests have “disheartened any faith I had in the redemption or reformation of the USA as one entity.”
A militia that served as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal security is forming alliances and advocating secession. #gapol https://t.co/2VL769EmNe
— Chris Joyner (@cjoyner) February 4, 2021
The Georgia III% Martyrs are pursuing an alliance with a fellow Georgia paramilitary militia known as the American Brotherhood of Patriots and American Patriots USA (APUSA) headed by Chester Doles, a former member of multiple racist and neo-Nazi hate groups.
The goal of the combined groups is to promote the secession of Georgia from the union or per Thayer, “the collapse of the American experiment,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (RELATED: Report: FBI Has ‘Ongoing’ Relationship With Left-Wing SPLC, Which Once Put Ben Carson On An ‘Extremist Watch List’)
Doles confirmed the partnership, saying, “We’ve seen our last Republican president in American history. The ballot box — we tried as hard as we could try. It’s not working,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constiution.
Amy Iandiorio, an investigative researcher at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism described a “shared victimhood narrative” surrounding the 2020 presidential election as a catalyst for “tactical” alliances between extremist groups that otherwise would not exist, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“I think we are going to see a lot of this coalition building with some pretty nasty actors” said Hampton Stall, a militia researcher with the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.