German police арестува 25 people from a far-right group on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government after unprecedented state-wide raids Wednesday morning.
“The defendants belong to a terrorist organization founded no later than the end of November 2021, which has set itself the goal of overcoming the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with its own form of state,” a изявление from the German attorney general reads.
The statement added that the group was prepared to commit acts of violence to achieve its goals.
The plotters include members of the extremist Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich) movement, which refuses to recognize the modern German state and aims to replace it with an authoritarian new system.
An active member of the German army’s elite unit Special Forces Command is reportedly among the more than 50 suspects under investigation, as well as a former German MP from the far-right Alternative for Germany party. Several suspects also appeared as activists at demonstrations against COVID-19 measures.
The group’s plan was to violently overthrow the current government and replace it. The conspirators’ new government would have conducted foreign policy negotiations with Russia, the attorney generals statement said, while presenting more detailed information on their plans for a new state.
Special units of the German police have searched more than 130 homes, offices and warehouses, as well as sites of the Special Forces Command in 11 German states. Authorities took also action in Italy and Austria, according to reports.
Twenty-five people have been arrested in raids across Germany on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.
German reports say the group of far-right and ex-military figures planned to storm the parliament building, the Reichstag, and seize power.
A minor aristocrat described as Prince Heinrich XIII, 71, is alleged to have been central to their plans.
According to federal prosecutors, he is one of two alleged ringleaders among those arrested across 11 German states.
The plotters are said to include members of the extremist Reichsbürger [Citizens of the Reich] movement, which has long been in the sights of German police over violent attacks and racist conspiracy theories. They also refuse to recognise the modern German state.
An estimated 50 men and women are alleged to have been part of the group, said to have plotted to overthrow the republic and replace it with a new state modelled on the Germany of 1871 - an empire called the Second Reich.
Three thousand officers took part in 130 raids across much of the country, with two people arrested in Austria and Italy. Those detained were due to be questioned later in the day.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann tweeted that a major anti-terror operation was taking place and a suspected "armed attack on constitutional bodies was planned".
The federal prosecutor's office said the group had been plotting a violent coup since November 2021 and members of its central "Rat" (council) had since held regular meetings.
They had already established plans to rule Germany with departments covering health, justice and foreign affairs, the prosecutor said. Members understood they could only realise their goals by "military means and violence against state representatives" which included carrying out killings.
Investigators are thought to have got wind of the group when they uncovered a kidnap plot last April involving a gang who called themselves United Patriots. They too were part of the Reichsbürger scene and had allegedly planned to abduct Health Minister Karl Lauterbach while also creating "civil war conditions" to bring about an end to Germany's democracy.



