Twenty-five people, including former soldiers, were detained in raids across Germany over the suspicions of plotting a coup to overthrow the government on Wednesday. The group is reported to have far-right members, including a former member of the German parliament, and had been planning the coup for months, the BBC reported.
The accused people reportedly include members of Reichsbürger [Citizens of the Reich] movement, a German far-right group that has been under the radar for violent attacks and racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories, BBC said in a report.
Germany's Justice Minister Marco Buschmann confirmed the development on Twitter and said that there is a suspicion that the group was planning an "armed attack on constitutional bodies".
"Democracy is well defended: Since this morning, a major anti-terror operation has been taking place. The Federal Public Prosecutor is investigating a suspected terrorist network from the Reich citizen milieu. There is a suspicion that an armed attack on constitutional bodies was planned," he said in a tweet.
Here is all you need to know about the developments in Germany and the group behind the alleged coup:
Who was plotting the coup?
The DW reported that the arrested suspects belonged to a terror outfit that had been founded in November 2021. The group was planning to install Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, a descendent of a noble family that once ruled eastern parts of Germany, as the leader with backing from Russia, Reuters reported. The authorities, according to the BBC, do not have a name for the group yet.
The group was reportedly inspired by Reichsbuerger and QAnon.
Reichsbürger group members are firm believers of German monarchy with some of them being followers of Nazi ideas and do not consider modern-day Germany as a legitimate state. Reuters reported that one of the 25 arrested suspects was from Russia.
CNN quoted the German federal prosecutor's office saying that the accused were united by "a deep rejection of state institutions."
"The accused are united by a deep rejection of state institutions and the free democratic basic order of the Federal Republic of Germany, which over time has led to their decision to participate in their violent elimination and to engage in concrete preparatory actions for this purpose," the statement by the prosecutor's office said.
What has Germany said?
Justice minister Buschmann said that warrants were issued against 22 members and three supporters of the Reichsbürger group. He said that 27 others were being probed in connection with the case. "A total of 25 arrest warrants against 22 alleged members and 3 supporters of a right-wing terrorist organization from the milieu of #Reichsbürger were executed. Another 27 suspects are being investigated," he said in a tweet written in Geran.
"One of the plans was to gain armed access to the Bundestag," Buschmann said.