- Paul Kirby
- BBC News
A campaign of raids across Germany in which 3,000 policemen participated.
German authorities have arrested 25 people in several raids across the country suspected of plotting to overthrow the government.
German reports say that a group of far-right ex-military figures planned to storm the parliament building, the Reichstag, and seize power.
A German man described as “prince” named Henry XIII, aged 71, was allegedly central to their plans.
According to federal prosecutors, Heinrich is one of two alleged ringleaders arrested in the sweepstakes across 11 German states.
The conspirators are said to include members of the extremist Reich Citizens’ Movement, which has long been the focus of the German police for violent attacks and racist conspiracy theories. Supporters of the movement refuse to recognize the modern German state.
An estimated 50 men and women were allegedly part of a group that allegedly plotted to overthrow the republic and replace it with a new state modeled after Germany in 1871, the empire called the Second Reich.
“We don’t have a name for this group yet,” said a spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
The German news agency reported that raids took place in most parts of the country and two people were arrested in Austria and Italy as well. The detainees are scheduled to be interrogated later today.
German Justice Minister Marco Bushmann tweeted that a large operation was under way to combat terrorism, and that they were suspected of planning an armed attack on constitutional bodies.
Germany’s federal prosecutor said the group had been planning a violent coup since November 2021.
Reports said that former military personnel are also an important part of this coup plot, including former elite soldiers from the special units.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office said that the “conspirators” had already drawn up plans to rule Germany, and that they realized that they could only achieve their goals through “military means and violence against representatives of the state, and this includes carrying out killings.”
Public broadcaster ZDF reported that a former far-right member of Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, was involved in the plot, and was being groomed to be minister of justice in the group, led by “Prince Heinrich”.