Germany: Authorities bust plot to overthrow the govt, install prince
BERLIN: German authorities carried out the biggest-ever raid targeting right-wing extremists, saying a nationwide operation thwarted a domestic terrorist group planning to violently overthrow the government.
More than 3,000 German lawenforcement officers, including hundreds of special forces, participated in searches across 11 of the country’s 16 states early on Wednesday. Twenty-five people were taken into custody, including a nobleman ringleader, a former lawmaker with the antiimmigrant Alternative for Germany and at least one member of an elite military unit.
Authorities didn’t describe an imminent attack. But members of the group, which adheres to a far-right ideology that rejects the legitimacy of Germany’s postworld War 2 order, planned to attack the German parliament in Berlin, according to the federal prosecutor.
“They are firmly convinced that Germany is currently ruled by members of a so-called Deep State,” the prosecutor said in a statement. They believe that the country will be liberated by the “Alliance,” a secret organisation of governments, intelligence services and armed forces of various nations, including Russia and the US.
Media images included armoured police escorting the suspected group leader, identified as Heinrich XIII, the Prince of Reuss, from his apartment in Frankfurt. The nobleman led the group’s “council” and planned to take over the government after a coup.
Part of the plan was to set up an interim government and begin negotiations with the victorious World War 2 governments, above all Russia. Heinrich XIII made contact with Russian representatives in Germany, according to the prosecutor.
The raid went beyond Germany’s borders. One of the people detained was taken into custody in Perugia, Italy and another in Kitzbuehel, Austria.