After the largest raid against the milieu of the so-called Reich citizens, arrest warrants have been issued against the first suspects. Eight of the 25 arrested were already in custody, said Attorney General Peter Frank in the early afternoon. They are accused of membership or support of a domestic terrorist organization. According to Frank, they were arrested in Germany, Austria and Italy.
Around 3,000 officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Federal Police and the State Criminal Police Offices have been searching almost 150 objects in eleven federal states since the morning on behalf of the Attorney General. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) spoke of an “abyss of a terrorist threat”.
As Frank said, the alleged right-wing terrorist cell is said to have planned to eliminate Germany’s democratic order “using violence and military means”. She also wanted to occupy the Bundestag. A “council” was to take over government business, and a “military arm” was to set up a new army and “homeland security companies.” The members of the network attached to conspiracy myths – both the so-called Reichsbürger and the “QAnon” movement.
According to information from Suddeutscher Zeitung, NDR and WDR, the proceedings are directed against 51 suspects. 25 people were provisionally arrested. The GSG 9, the special unit of the federal police, even moved to at least two suspects because the investigators suspected they had firearms.
The main suspects include a member of a former aristocratic family, who has long been attributed to the Reich bourgeois milieu by investigators, and a former AfD member of the Bundestag. What makes the cell on the right so dangerous from the point of view of the investigators: Among the conspirators are several former officers of special forces of the Bundeswehr. So-called Reich citizens recognize neither the existence of the Federal Republic nor its government or laws.
According to Interior Minister Faeser, the authorities are still examining possible contacts between the suspected right-wing terrorists and the AfD. “Of course we’re looking now: What connections are there?” She said. You have to look very carefully. “And of course it’s bitter when someone is affected who, as a former member of parliament, still has access to the German Bundestag,” said Faeser on the role of former AfD member Birgit Malsack-Winkemann. She assumes that the Bundestag administration will react quickly.
Minister of Justice Buschmann: “Democracy is defensive”
According to the current status of the investigation, the suspected terrorist organization was “driven by violent fantasies of revolution and conspiracy ideologies,” said Faeser. Only further investigations would give a clear picture of how far the plans had progressed. Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann spoke of the suspicion that “an armed attack on constitutional bodies” had been planned. “Democracy is defensive”, wrote the FDP politician on Twitter. “Our values have to be defended anew every day,” said the parliamentary director of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast. “There are forces that work every day to undermine our democracy.”
Green parliamentary group leader Konstantin von Notz told the news portal t-online that the authorities had “succeeded in putting a stop to very concrete plans to seize power and in smashing a network of enemies of our democracy”. The attack on the Capitol in Washington showed that anti-democratic speeches can also be followed by anti-democratic actions. “This danger must be taken very seriously.” FDP parliamentary group leader Konstantin Kuhle demandedto crack down on extremist officials. “The group’s renewed connection to the Bundeswehr and the police is particularly problematic,” he said, referring to the suspected terrorist cell. “Anyone who rejects or even wants to eliminate the state order in Germany cannot be a civil servant. Public service law must be tightened up quickly.”
The search operation is one of the largest in the history of the Federal Republic. In the past few months, the Federal Criminal Police Office, several state criminal investigation offices and authorities for the protection of the constitution had closely observed the group. Numerous phones were monitored, people were observed and their activities on the Internet tracked. According to information from WDR, NDR and SZ, the BKA is investigating under the name “Shadow”. The searches, it is said, would continue throughout the day. The main suspects could not be reached for comment.