Masked German police officers stand guard outside a house following the arrest of eight suspected members of a right-wing militant group in Dresden, Germany, on Tuesday. The group, driven by racist ideology and conspiracy theories, had been training for warfare aimed at the downfall of the modern German state, according to prosecutors.
German authorities arrested eight individuals suspected of being part of a right-wing militant group that had been training for the overthrow of the modern German state, prosecutors announced on Tuesday. The arrests occurred during a 450-strong police operation to dismantle the group, identified by prosecutors as 'Saechsische Separatisten' or Saxony Separatists, which shares the abbreviation SS with the Nazi party's elite militia.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser stated that the security authorities had thwarted early-stage plans for a militant coup by right-wing terrorists who were anticipating a 'Day X' to attack people and the state with armed force. Spiegel Online reported that one of the suspects was a politician for the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) in eastern Germany.
This marks the second coup plot uncovered in Germany in recent years, following the exposure of the 'Reichsbuerger' movement in 2022. The group targeted in Tuesday's operation was formed no later than November 2020, according to the federal prosecutor's office. The group is described as a militant organization of 15 to 20 individuals with an ideology characterized by racist, anti-Semitic, and apocalyptic ideas.
Convinced that Germany is on the brink of collapse, the group had been training to use force to establish a new system in the country's east inspired by Nazism. Prosecutors stated that the suspects had completed paramilitary training, focusing on urban warfare, firearms handling, nocturnal marching, and patrolling. The group had also procured military hardware, including camouflage fatigues, combat helmets, gas masks, and bullet-proof vests.
The Polish Security Agency, in collaboration with German authorities, detained the suspected ringleader and founding member, Joerg S., 23, in the Polish border town of Zgorzelec. German prosecutors identified some of the others arrested as Joern S., Karl K., and Norman T. Two of the suspects belong to a family of known far-right militants in Austria.
Seven of the suspects were captured in and around the eastern cities of Leipzig, Dresden, and Meissen. Spiegel reported that one of the suspects, identified as Kurt H., was an AfD politician in the eastern state of Saxony. He is an elected member of the city council in Grimma, near Leipzig, and has been treasurer of the Saxon AfD youth organization 'Junge Alternative' since October.
The eight suspects face charges of participating in a domestic terrorist organization, with some to be prosecuted as minors and adolescents. They are expected to be brought before a judge later in the day.
Source link: https://www.khaleejtimes.com
