About 3,000 police carried out raids across Germany to stop an alleged plot by a far-right terror group to overthrow the government.
Federal prosecutors said 25 suspected members and supporters of the Reichsburger Group – the so-called Reich Citizens’ Movement – were arrested in the raids in 11 of the country’s 16 states early Wednesday.
Twenty-two German citizens were arrested on suspicion of “belonging to a terrorist organization”, and three others, including a Russian citizen, are suspected of supporting the group.
The Reichsburger movement brings together several far-right groups whose goal is to get rid of the current government and replace it with their own.
According to the authorities, the members of the group have been preparing to “carry out actions based on their ideology” since November 2021.
Armed police reportedly stormed up to 100 properties in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony and Thuringia, as well as the Austrian town of Kitzbühel and the Italian city of Perugia.
A 71-year-old man, who goes by the name of Prince Heinrich XIII, is believed to be at the center of the group’s activities and was among those arrested.
Prosecutors said the group planned to install him as Germany’s new leader and had contacted Russian officials in a bid to broker a new order in the country.
He would have been helped in this by a Russian woman, Vitalia B.
“According to ongoing investigations, however, there is no indication that those contacted responded positively to his request,” prosecutors said.
Der Spiegel reported that the barracks of the German special forces unit, the KSK, in the southwestern town of Calw was one of the places attacked.
In the past, it has come under scrutiny due to the alleged far-right involvement of some soldiers.
A female judge – identified by prosecutors as Birgit MW – was also arrested during the searches. She is said to have links with the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
Known by its German acronym AfD, the party has come under increasing scrutiny by German security services over its links to extremists.
