Germany arrests eight suspected members of right-wing group planning rebellion

BERLIN: German police have arrested eight suspected members of a right-wing militant group guided by racist ideology and conspiracy theories that trained to fight for the collapse of the modern German state, prosecutors said on Tuesday (October 5).

News of the arrest came as a 450-man police operation was launched to dismantle the group, which prosecutors called “Saechsische Separatisten” or Saxony Separatists.

“Our security officials foiled militant coup plans at an early stage by right-wing terrorists longing for a Day X to attack people and our state with armed force,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement. he said.

This will be the second coup plan uncovered in Germany in recent years.

In a situation that shocked Germany with its elaborate network and planning, the so-called “Reichsbuerger” movement, led by a so-called prince with ambitions of overthrowing the state and establishing an interim government, was revealed in 2022.

In the statement made by the federal prosecutor’s office, it was stated that the group targeted in Tuesday’s operation was established in November 2020 at the latest.

“It is a militant group of 15 to 20 people whose ideology is characterized by racist, anti-Semitic and partly apocalyptic ideas,” the statement said.

Believing that Germany was on the brink of collapse, with the collapse of government and society predicted for an unspecified “Day X”, the group was training to use force to establish a new system inspired by National Socialism in the east of the country, according to investigators.

“If necessary, unwanted groups must be removed from the region through ethnic cleansing,” the statement said.

PARAMILITARY EDUCATION

Those arrested include four suspected founding members identified as suspected ringleader Joerg S, as well as Joern S, Karl K and Norman T.

Some will be tried as minors and adolescents.

Eight people are accused of participating in a domestic terrorist organization.

They completed paramilitary training that focused on urban warfare, the use of firearms, night marches and patrols, prosecutors said.

The group also supplied military equipment such as camouflage clothing, combat helmets, gas masks and bulletproof vests.

Seven of the suspects were captured in and around the eastern cities of Leipzig, Dresden and Meissen, while another was detained in the Polish border town of Zgorzelec.

Authorities were searching approximately 20 buildings in order to enforce the court order and were also among the measures targeting seven other suspects.