Germany arrests 25 accused of plotting coup
Source: BBC
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 German man referred to as a prince called Heinrich XIII, 71, is alleged to have been central to their plans.
...
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.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63885028
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.
The Reichsbürger movement is made up of a number of small organizations and individuals, mainly in the states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bavaria. They do not accept the legality of the Federal Republic of Germany nor any of its government authorities.
The movement argues that the German constitution prior to World War II was never properly nullified and that the formation of the former West Germany in 1949, and now reunified Germany, was therefore never valid.
https://www.dw.com/en/german-police-arrest-25-suspected-far-right-terrorists-in-nationwide-raids/a-64011136
In translation:
In addition, there is said to have been a military arm whose head is said to have been a Rüdiger von P. This unit tried to arm itself and also carried out shooting training. "A Germany-wide system of homeland security companies was planned," said the spokeswoman.
Some of the members had also served in the Bundeswehr. A targeted attempt was also made to recruit soldiers and police officers. In the summer of 2022 there were four meetings in Baden-Württemberg, and in November Rüdiger vP, among others, tried to recruit police officers in northern Germany. Bundeswehr barracks were also scouted out in October.
The members should be Reich citizens and QAnon believers - according to this conspiracy ideology, a secret state, a "deep state", governs.
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/panorama/razzia-reichsbuerger-umsturz-terrorverdacht-100.html
area51
(11,851 posts)Jose Garcia
(2,547 posts)in a future election?
EX500rider
(10,448 posts)Kennah
(14,010 posts)electric_blue68
(14,512 posts)riiiiight.
Thank goodness they got these bags of sewage 😬 before they could go ahead.
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)MyOwnPeace
(16,884 posts)I'm betting they were nothing more than your average 'tourist' group getting ready for a stroll through their own capitol building......
no_hypocrisy
(45,634 posts)SouthernDem4ever
(6,339 posts)check their cell phones.
Trueblue1968
(17,111 posts)Temeret
(80 posts)Theyre not just crazy people, talking nonsense on Twitter. They are threat to governments.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,615 posts)70sEraVet
(3,391 posts)Maybe a clue as to where this group was getting its funding?
paleotn
(17,759 posts)NNadir
(33,366 posts)of Congress who have supported a coup and they are still in office, spouting racist, sexist, nationalistic rhetoric.
GoneOffShore
(17,303 posts)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.
The raids were announced by Germany's federal prosecution agency and German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann. Buschmann said the investigations were directed against a suspected terrorist network with known ties to the Reichsbürger movement. He said that the raids had taken place on individuals suspected of planning an armed attack on state institutions.
3000 police officers deployed in raids over plot to overthrow German government | DW News
Ford_Prefect
(7,772 posts)The group had even started to nominate ministers for a transitional post-coup government, reported the newspaper Die Zeit, in which one of the suspects, the former AfD MP Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, 58, was to be federal minister for justice.
The group was convinced modern Germany was run by a deep state conspiracy that was about to be exposed by an alliance of German intelligence agencies and the militaries of foreign states including Russia and the US.
Everything will be turned upside down: the current public prosecutors and judges, as well as the heads of the health departments and their superiors will find themselves in the dock at Nuremberg 2.0, one of the suspect said in a message posted on Telegram minutes before the start of Wednesdays raids, Die Zeit reported.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/07/german-police-raids-target-far-right-reich-citizens-movement
msfiddlestix
(7,260 posts)heard her say police and military, however it was a little confusing because I think the arrests involved was done by the established military along with the police.
I think it was here on DU an article recently indicating that U.S. based insurrectionists (all of the organized militia groups, along with PB, Q's etc) were involved in organizing abroad in Europe, the UK. and Eastern Europe.... but I don't remember the source.
Just a general awareness that these groups are uniformly organizing internationally is far more dangerous and challenging to deal with than all of our past wars on terrorists (Alqueda etc). Home grown and international.
involving military, police, judges, officials holding office.
We need to deal with the same thing here.. imo.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,083 posts)The Guardian article has now been updated with that.
msfiddlestix
(7,260 posts)PSPS
(13,484 posts)This has been a real problem in Germany that was covered in depth by the NYT last year. Its "plans" closely resemble those of the right-wing in the US.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/19/podcasts/far-right-german-extremism.html
Lasher
(27,472 posts)They fit the description of those in the USA.
msfiddlestix
(7,260 posts)prodigitalson
(2,242 posts)Q, sovcits, anti-vaxers, etc. they are anti Semites too but not neo Nazis per se. they think there are about 20,000 of them nationwide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsb%C3%BCrger_movement
harun
(11,347 posts)Question will be if the US security agencies are on the side of Democracy or the plotters?
TomSlick
(11,013 posts)Anyone whose family hasn't ruled anything for a hundred years that calls himself Prince Heinrich XIII should be watched.