According to the DPA agency, around 3,000 police have intervened since morning in eleven German federal states. The reason for this is the emergence of the coup plans prepared by an extreme right-wing terrorist organization.
“We don’t have a name for this organization yet,” said a spokesperson for the federal prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe. The group is probably based on conspiracy theories from the Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Empire) movement.
This questions the existence of the Federal Republic and the democratic and constitutional structure and aims to “shake confidence in state institutions and their representatives”.
Founding of the German Empire
According to the prosecution, the aim of the alleged putschists was to overthrow the German political system and establish a state modeled after the 1871 German Empire. At that time, Otto von Bismarck was chancellor.
“The members of the association were aware that this project could only be implemented using military means and including violence and murders against state officials,” the prosecutor’s office said.
It is estimated that 22 arrested people are members of the said terrorist organization, including 2 leaders and 1 Russian. The other three arrested are said to be his supporters.
extremism in Germany
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27 more suspects. The raid took place in Berlin, Saxony, Thuringia and Bavaria, among others, as well as Italy and Austria.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann described the nationwide raid as a “counter-terrorism operation”. “Democracy protected: A major counter-terrorism operation has been underway since morning,” the FDP politician tweeted on Wednesday morning.
Wednesday’s raid is arguably the largest counter-terrorism operation in the history of the Federal Republic.
Who are the Imperial Citizens?
It’s a very diverse organization. The unifying factor is the belief that today’s Germany is not a sovereign state. The “Reich Citizens” (RO) believe that Germany continues to be controlled by foreign powers and find the legal system illegitimate.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has been officially monitoring “Reich Citizens” since 2016. According to BfV, 21,000 people attend the stages. The office considers about a thousand people to be far-right. Many have access to weapons.
October 19, 2016, the shooting and killing of a member of the SEK police unit by a pro-MA person in Georgensgmünd, Bavaria, is considered a turning point in the perception of the “Reichs”. Male cops were supposed to confiscate firearms.
a Thuringian nobleman
According to ARD, the main character of the plot is Heinrich Reuss, a descendant of an ancient noble family from present-day Thuringia.
The 71-year-old man has publicly echoed the ideas of the far-right “Citizens of the Empire” for years. In 2019, for example, he claimed that the Federal Republic of Germany is not a sovereign state but is still controlled by the Allies, i.e. the victors of WWII.
He defines the state and the judiciary as “firms”. If the coup were successful, Heinrich Reuss would become regent. Reuss works daily in Frankfurt am Main as a financial advisor and owns a hunting lodge in Thuringia. The band members were supposed to meet there several times this year.
An AfD ex-MP was also part of it.
The putschists planned to establish a “shadow cabinet”, led by Reuss. Former Alternative for Germany (AfD) MP Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who is also wanted by the police and currently serving as a judge in Berlin, was supposed to head the Ministry of Justice. Other positions were also commissioned.
Photo: Profimedia.cz
Birgit Malsacková-Winkemannová, judge and former MP of the populist AfD.
Specially trained former Bundeswehr soldiers are also active among those suspected of plotting the coup, including a soldier working in the logistics of the elite KSK (Kommando Spezialkräfte) unit.
The organization was supposed to have an armed group with a former paratrooper commander. The group tried to recruit more soldiers and police. The terrorists probably wanted to attack the House of Spock and were training with weapons.
The alleged putschists also have links with the circle of the Querdenker movement, that is, with the “diverse” circle. This was behind the protests in Germany against epidemic restrictions and vaccination against the covid-19 disease. Radical deniers of the pandemic have widely spread conspiracy theories on social networks.
In the anti-pandemic environment, those who were alleged to be putschists put forward their ideas.
The imperial civic scene is considered highly heterogeneous. Their unifying element is the belief that Germany is not a sovereign state. Many Reich citizens see the Federal Republic as a “society” controlled by foreign powers. Reich citizens find the German legal system illegitimate.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been officially monitoring the Reich scene since 2016. The agency has around 21,000 followers at the scene. A little over a thousand are also considered far-right. Many citizens of the Reich are believed to have an affinity for guns. 19 October 2016, considered a turning point in the assessment of the Reich scene, was the day a supporter of the scene shot a SEK officer in Georgensgmünd, Bavaria. Police teams went to the scene to confiscate the men’s weapons.
Source: Seznam Zpravy
I am Joel Fitzgerald, a news website author for The News Dept. I have worked in the media and journalism industry for over 10 years and specialize in world news. My articles have been featured in prominent publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, where I am an expert contributor on global affairs.
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