Thousands of police officers carried out raids across much of Germany on Wednesday against suspected far-right extremists who allegedly sought to overthrow the government in an armed coup. Officials said 25 people were detained.
Federal prosecutors said some 3,000 officers conducted searches at 130 sites in 11 of Germany’s 16 states against adherents of the so-called Reich Citizens movement. Some movement members reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for bringing down 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 said 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, they said. Another 27 people were under investigation.
What Do Prosecutors Say Were Their Plans?
Prosecutors said those detained are alleged to last year 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.”
The suspects were aware their aim could only be achieved by military means and with force, prosecutors said.
Some of the group’s members had made “concrete preparations” to storm Germany’s federal parliament with a small armed group, according to prosecutors. “The details (of this plan) still need to be investigated” to determine whether any of the suspects can be charged with treason, they said.
The group is alleged to have believed in a “conglomerate of conspiracy theories consisting of narratives from the so-called Reich Citizens as well as QAnon ideology,” according to the statement. Prosecutors added that members of the group also believe Germany is ruled by a so-called “deep state;” similar baseless claims about the United States were made by former President Donald Trump.
Who is Heinrich XIII?
Prosecutors identified the suspected ringleaders as Heinrich XIII P. R. and Ruediger v. P., in line with German privacy rules. Der Spiegel reported that the former was a well-known 71-year-old member of a minor German noble family, while the latter was a 69-year-old former paratrooper.
Federal prosecutors said Heinrich XIII P. R., whom the group planned to install as Germany’s new leader, had contacted Russian officials with the aim of negotiating a new order in the country once the German government was overthrown. He was allegedly assisted in this by a Russian woman, Vitalia B.
“According to current investigations there is no indication however that the persons contacted responded positively to his request,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors identified another individual detained by police Wednesday as Birgit M.-W. Der Spiegel reported she is a judge and former lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
What is the Reichsbürger Movement?
According to a report by Deutsche Welle, the Reichsbürger movement denies the existence of Germany’s post-World War II Federal Republic. They believe that the current state is nothing more than an administrative construct occupied by the Western powers — the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. For them, the German Empire’s borders of 1937 still exist.
These are the self-proclaimed “Reichsbürger,” or “Citizens of the Reich,” who were founded in 1871 — and they are not afraid of violence, the report explains.
The Reichsbürger movement is made up of a number of small groups and individuals, mostly from Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Bavaria. They do not recognise the legality of the government authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany. They refuse to pay taxes and have established their own small “national territories,” dubbed the “Second German Empire,” “Free State of Prussia,” or “Principality of Germania.”
Members of these organisations print their own passports and driver’s licences. They even make T-shirts and flags for promotional purposes. Reichsbürger ignore the fact that such behaviour is illegal and is not sanctioned by any German authority. On their websites, they proudly declare their intention to “continue the fight against the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Just ‘lunatics’?
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, estimates that there are approximately 21,000 Reichsbürger in Germany, with 5% of them classified as far-right extremists, the report by DW states.
The majority are men. They are mostly over 50 years old, adhere to right-wing populist, anti-Semitic, and Nazi ideologies, and are dispersed throughout the country. A Saxony-Anhalt district court judge described them as “conspiracy theorists” and “malcontents.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Reichsbürger were radicalised by the “Querdenker” movement, which refused to obey any restrictions imposed by authorities they did not recognise.
Despite their opposition to the system, Reichsbürger flood German courts with motions and objections to court orders and payment demands issued by local governments. Authorities are required to process every properly filed, formal request they receive, regardless of content.
Acts of extreme violence
Authorities are concerned about the group’s fondness for firearms and stockpiling weapons. According to the most recent BfV report on the Reichsbürger, they are ready and willing to commit “serious acts of violence.”
During house searches, police discovered large caches of weapons and ammunition — and Reichsbürger members are continuing to arm themselves.
Because a significant portion of the group consists of former Bundeswehr and NVA (National People’s Army of the GDR) soldiers, including men with special military training, the group is considered particularly dangerous.
Hundreds of the movement’s followers have had their weapons permits revoked by German authorities in recent years.
In recent years, Reichsbürger supporters have attacked police officers during raids, with defendants frequently claiming the right to defend “their property.”
With inputs from Associated Press
Read all the Latest Explainers here
Comments
0 comment