Germany foils alleged far-right coup attempt to overthrow the government
Rachel Schilke
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Over 20 people have been arrested on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government in Germany.
Federal police arrested 25 people, made up of far-right and ex-military figures, who were allegedly planning for a “Day X” to storm the Reichstag parliament and seize power, per BBC.
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Close to 50 people are estimated to be in the plotting group, seeking to overthrow the republic and replace it with a system modeled after Germany’s government in 1871, calling it the Second Reich. The group had been plotting since November 2021, according to federal prosecutors.
Prince Heinrich XIII, 71, a minor aristocrat, is said to be one of two ringleaders in the plot, according to prosecutors. Under the new state, he was penciled in as leader.
The arrested group includes members of Reichsburger, an extremist movement known for violent attacks, racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories, and its refusal of the modern German state. Other suspects are from the QAnon movement.
Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, former far-right AfD member of the Bundestag, Germany’s lower chamber, was among the 25 arrested as well.
Prosecutors said members were aware that they would have to reach their goals through “military means and violence against state representatives,” which would include killing.
The arrest raids are considered to be one of the largest anti-extremism operations in German history, according to BBC. Close to three thousand officers were involved in 150 operations that took place across 11 German states, with two people arrested in Austria and Italy.
A majority of the arrests came from the southern states of Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria.
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Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the German population that authorities would bring the full force of the law “against the enemies of democracy.”
“The suspected terrorist group uncovered today is — according to the current status of the inquiry — driven by fantasies of violent overthrow and conspiracy ideologies,” Faeser said.