Germany Arrests 25 Accused Of Plotting Coup
Twenty-five people comprising far-right and ex-military figures have been arrested in raids across Germany on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.
They reportedly planned to replace it with a new state modelled on the Germany of 1871 – an empire called the Second Reich.
The suspects are said to have prepared for a “Day X” to storm the Reichstag (Parliament) building and seize power.
A minor aristocrat named Prince Heinrich XIII, aged 71 is one of two alleged ringleaders among those arrested across 11 German states.
The plotters are said to include members of the extremist Reichsbürger [Citizens of the Reich] movement, which refuses to recognise the modern German state.
Other suspects came from the QAnon movement who believe that Germany is in the hands of the “deep state” involving secret powers pulling the political strings.
Three thousand officers took part in 150 operations in 11 of Germany’s 16 states, with two people arrested in Austria and Italy.
The raids, conducted at dawn on Wednesday, 6 December, have been described as one of the biggest anti-extremism operations in modern German history.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser assured Germans that authorities would respond with the full force of the law “against the enemies of democracy”.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann tweeted that a suspected “armed attack on constitutional bodies was planned”. | BBC News
