German police on Wednesday arrested another 25 people suspected of involvement in a far-right terrorist plot to overthrow the country’s government that influenced through conspiratorial movements such as QAnon, underscoring the growing risk posed to government officials by far-right teams across the West.
In an official statement, Germany’s federal prosecutor general’s office said the arrests were made through police raids in various parts of the country.
Those arrested come with 22 German citizens suspected of being members of an unnamed terrorist organization, as well as two other German citizens and one Russian citizen suspected of being sympathizers.
Two suspects were arrested outside Germany, one in Austria and one in Italy, while another 27 suspects are still under investigation.
According to Deutsche Welle, an active special forces soldier and several German army reservists were the suspects and the house and barracks of the active-duty soldier are being searched lately.
The federal prosecutor’s office noted that members of the terrorist organization were influenced by conspiracy theories such as the right-wing American QAnon movement and the so-called Reichsbürger seeking to repair the former German Empire or Reich, which collapsed after World War I.
One of the arrested suspects, Heinrich XIII PR, was allegedly in a position to update the German leader after an overthrow of the government and had attempted to touch Russian officials, there is no evidence that this was reciprocal.
In a post on Twitter, German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann wrote: “Democracy is well defended: since this morning a primary anti-terrorist operation is taking place. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is investigating an alleged terrorist network among the citizens of the Reich. It is suspected that an armed attack on constitutional bodies was planned.
Far-right teams have become larger and more visible in Germany since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and many of them have organised and participated in protests against lockdown. Earlier this year, German police arrested another five people for their alleged involvement in a plot to kidnap German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach due to his help with various anti-covid measures. officials for imposing restrictions on other unvaccinated persons.
German police arrest 25 suspected of plotting to overthrow the state (Deutsche Welle)
German police arrest dozens of others suspected of plotting a coup (New York Times)