The raids involved six suspects associated with the notorious Reichsbürger movement, a fugitive group of people who do not recognize the authority of the current system of government.
The six are suspected of having been “planning since September 2020 to cause a large-scale power outage in Germany by sabotaging electricity pylons. The intention was to enable other groups to seize power in Germany with a political coup,” the prosecutor’s office shared. from Munich.
The suspects are now being prosecuted for forming a terrorist organization and for membership in it.
Germany has made far-right terrorism its biggest threat. The ideology of the “Reichsbürger”, “Citizens of the Reich”, has experienced undeniable growth since strict anti-Covid restrictions were introduced during the corona pandemic.
“Reichsbürger” are people who do not recognize the authority of the contemporary German state or its democratic structures and institutions. They claim that the German Reich (1871-1945) simply continues to exist. The movement has grown in membership. There are now 21,000 to 23,000 supporters, some of them violent. The German police recently carried out several raids on members and arrested dozens of ‘Reichsbürgers’.
REVIEW. Police raids on group planning armed coup in Germany