Police have arrested 25 suspected members or supporters of a “domestic terrorist organization” aiming to topple the German state. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said the network was part of the “Reichsbürger scene.”
In a nationwide raid, 25 suspected members and supporters of a terrorist organization were arrested early Wednesday.
Officials said the network, part of a wider right-wing movement, was already well established with a concrete plan to overthrow the German state by force and install a new government.
Of the 25 men and women arrested, 24 were from Germany and one suspected supporter is from Russia. One arrest took place in Austria and one in Italy. There are 27 other suspects, the federal prosecutor’s office said.
Speaking at a press conference, German Attorney General Peter Frank said that the organization had formed around P. R. at the end of November 2021.
Frank said the group had established a council that was intended to act as the government of the new state with some individuals already designated for ministerial roles. Among them, said the attorney general, was a former member of the Bundestag who was to take over the justice portfolio.
To implement their plans the group’s members were prepared to use military means and violence against state representatives and were willing to kill to achieve their goals. According to the investigators, the members of the group “followed a conglomerate of conspiracy myths consisting of narratives of the so-called ‘Reichsbürger’ as well as QAnon ideology.”
Source: Deutsche Welle (Full story)
