German police conducted raids across the country and arrested 25 people suspected of belonging to a far-right “terror cell” plotting to overthrow the government and attack parliament.
Some 3,000 officers, including elite anti-terror units, took part in the morning raids and searched more than 130 properties, in what German media described as one of the country’s biggest police actions against extremists.
The raids targeted suspected members of the “Citizens of the Reich” (Reichsbuerger) movement suspected of “having made concrete preparations to violently force their way into the German parliament with a small armed group,” federal prosecutors said in a statement, reports RTE.
The detainees are accused of having formed “a terrorist group by the end of November 2021 at the latest, which had set itself the goal of overcoming the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with their own kind of state”, they said, reports RTE.
Two of the 25 arrests were made abroad, in Austria and Italy.
Karlsruhe prosecutors said they had identified another 27 people as suspected members or sympathizers of the terror network.
“The accused are united by a deep rejection of state institutions and the free, democratic basic order of the Federal Republic of Germany,” they said, reports RTE.
The Reichsbuerger movement includes neo-Nazis, conspiracy theorists, and gun enthusiasts who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic.
Its followers generally believe in the continued existence of the pre-World War I Reich or German empire, under a monarchy, with various groups declaring their own states.
Long dismissed as disaffected eccentrics, the Reichsbuerger have become increasingly radicalized in recent years and are seen as a growing security threat.
The inquiry gave “a look into the abyss” of the movement’s far-right terror, Home Secretary Nancy Faeser said in a statement.
According to prosecutors, the terror cell suspects believe in Reichsbuerger and QAnon conspiracy theories and are “strongly convinced” that Germany is ruled by a “deep state” that must be overthrown.
The suspects knew their plan “could only be realised by using military means and violence against state representatives”, prosecutors said, reports RTE.
They allegedly planned to name one of the arrested suspects, identified by local media as an aristocrat and businessman, Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss, as the new leader of Germany after the coup.
Heinrich XIII had previously tried to contact Russian officials to discuss Germany’s “new state order” after the coup, prosecutors said.
A Russian woman named only Vitalia B, who was among those arrested today, is suspected of facilitating those contacts, prosecutors added.
The Russian embassy in Berlin said it “not maintain contacts with representatives of terrorist groups or other illegal entities” according to a statement issued by Russian news agencies, reports RTE.
Defend democracy
As part of the preparations for the coup, members of the alleged terror cell have purchased weapons, conducted target practice and tried to recruit new supporters, particularly from the army and police, according to prosecutors.
The former soldiers are believed to be among the members of the newly established terror group, they said.
A former lawmaker from the far-right AfD party was also among those accused of being part of the plot, according to German media reports.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann praised the takedown of the “suspected terrorist cell” on Twitter, saying it showed Germany was capable of defending its democracy.
The German internal intelligence service estimates that the Reichsbuerger scene has about 20,000 people.
Of these, more than 2,000 are believed to be potentially violent.
Germany considers far-right terrorism the biggest threat to its security after a series of attacks in recent years.
In April, police foiled a plot by a far-right group to kidnap the Minister of Health.
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