Former AfD lawmaker and active special forces member are reportedly under investigation.
German police arrested 25 people from a far-right group on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government after unprecedented state-wide raids Wednesday morning.
“The defendants belong to a terrorist organization founded no later than the end of November 2021, which has set itself the goal of overcoming the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with its own form of state,” a statement from the German attorney general reads.
The statement added that the group was prepared to commit acts of violence to achieve its goals.
The plotters include members of the extremist Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich) movement, which refuses to recognize the modern German state and aims to replace it with an authoritarian new system.
An active member of the German army’s elite unit Special Forces Command is reportedly among the more than 50 suspects under investigation, as well as a former German MP from the far-right Alternative for Germany party. Several suspects also appeared as activists at demonstrations against COVID-19 measures.
The group’s plan was to violently overthrow the current government and replace it. The conspirators’ new government would have conducted foreign policy negotiations with Russia, the attorney generals statement said, while presenting more detailed information on their plans for a new state.
Special units of the German police have searched more than 130 homes, offices and warehouses, as well as sites of the Special Forces Command in 11 German states. Authorities took also action in Italy and Austria, according to reports.
