Twenty-five people have been arrested in raids across Germany on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.
Thousands of police officers carried out raids across much of Germany on Wednesday, December 7, 2022 against suspected far-right extremists who allegedly sought to overthrow the government in an armed coup.
The group of far-right and ex-military figures are said to have prepared to storm the parliament building, the Reichstag, and seize power.
Federal prosecutors said some 3,000 officers conducted searches at 130 sites in 11 of Germany’s 16 states against advocates of the so-called Reich Citizens movement.
Some movement members reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for the overthrow of the government.
Justice Minister, Marco Buschmann, described the raids as an “anti-terrorism operation,” adding that the suspects may have planned an armed attack on institutions of the state.
Germany’s top security official said the group was “driven by violent coup fantasies and conspiracy ideologies.”
Prosecutors revealed that 22 German citizens were detained on suspicion of “membership in a terrorist organization.” Three other people, including a Russian citizen, were held on suspicion of supporting the organization.
Prosecutors said those detained are alleged to have formed a “terrorist organization with the goal of overturning the existing state order in Germany and replace it with their own form of state, which was already in the course of being founded.”
According to prosecutors, a number of the group’s members had made “concrete preparations” to storm Germany’s federal parliament with a small armed group.
“The details (of this plan) still need to be investigated” to determine whether any of the suspects can be charged with treason, they added.
Prosecutors identified the suspected ringleaders as Heinrich XIII P. R. and Ruediger v. P., in line with German privacy rules.
Per the Federal prosecutors’ statement, Heinrich XIII P. R., whom the group intended to install as Germany’s new leader, had made contacts with Russian officials with the aim of negotiating a new order in the country once the German government was ousted.
Germany Knows How To Defend Itself
Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, opined that, the raids showed that “we know how to defend ourselves with full force against the enemies of democracy.”
“The investigation offers an insight into the depths of the terrorist threat within the Reich Citizens milieu. Only the further investigation will provide a clear picture of how far the coup plans had come.”
Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser
Faeser announced earlier this year that the government has planned to disarm about 1,500 suspected extremists and to strengthen background checks for those who want to acquire guns as part of a broader crackdown on the far right.
Sara Nanni, a Green party lawmaker, suggested the group may not have been very capable.
Nanni iterated in a post on the social network, Mastodon, “More details keep coming to light that raise doubts about whether these people were even clever enough to plan and carry out such a coup.”
“The fact is no matter how crude their ideas are and how hopeless their plans, even the attempt is dangerous,” she added
Officials have frequently cautioned that far-right extremists pose the biggest threat to Germany’s domestic security.
This threat was emphasized by the killing of a regional politician and the deadly attack on a synagogue in 2019.
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