Berlin: In a series of raids across the country, German police have arrested 25 suspected members and supporters of a far-right group who were allegedly seeking to overthrow the government by force. The reports say the group of far-right and ex-military figures planned to storm the parliament building, the Reichstag, and seize power.
About 3,000 officers conducted the raids on Wednesday at 130 sites across 11 German federal states against adherents of the so-called Reich Citizens (Reichsbuerger) movement.
The followers of the Reich Citizens_ a far-right group that has long been in the sights of German police over violent attacks and racist conspiracy theories_ were allegedly preparing ‘to violently force their way into the German parliament’’.
According to federal prosecutors, a minor aristocrat described as Prince Heinrich XIII, 71, is alleged to have been central to their plans. He is one of two alleged ringleaders among those arrested across 11 German states.
Other suspects were arrested in the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Saxony, and Thuringia, as well as in neighboring Austria and Italy, according to the prosecutor’s office.
