German police raid ‘far-right terror group that planned to attack parliament and overthrow the government in deadly coup’ and arrest 25 people including a ‘PRINCE’
- 3,000 German officers raided 130 locations in 11 of country’s 16 states today and arrested 25 people accused of plotting a violent coup
- Prince Heinrich XIII, who may claim descent from a now-abolished German monarchical line, was among those detained
- Prosecutors say the group planned to overthrow the government and re-establish the German Reich under a monarchy
Police have today carried out sweeping raids against an alleged far-right terror group which aimed to overthrow the German government in a violent coup.
Raids took place in 11 of Germany’s 16 states with 3,000 officers searching 130 sites including a forest palace in the state of Thuringia and arresting 25 people including a 71-year-old man who styles himself as Prince Heinrich XIII.
Cops also descended on the barracks of Germany’s special forces unit KSK, local media said, along with properties in neighbouring Austria and Italy.
Prosecutors say the plotters belonged to various far-right movements allied under the Reichsbürger banner, which rejects the modern German state in favour of the Reich which existed from 1871 to 1918.
German police today carried out sweeping raids across much of the country targeting an alleged far-right group accused of plotting to overthrow the government
The men are accused of plotting a violent overthrow of the current government in order to establish a Principality ruled by a monarchy and divided into ministries.
Coup plotters had already selected who would be in charge of the various ministries, Bild reports, and had acquired a number of legally-purchased guns.
Former soldiers of the Bundeswehr were involved in the plans, Bild adds, which have been ongoing since at least November 2021.
Suspects were arrested in the German states of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Thuringia as well as in Austria and Italy.
Prosecutors said 22 German citizens were detained on suspicion of ‘membership in a terrorist organization.’
Three other people, including a Russian citizen, are suspected of supporting the organization, they said.
Prosecutors said that one person was detained in the Austrian town of Kitzbuehel and another in the Italian city of Perugia.
Heinrich XIII is accused of being a ringleader of the plot alongside a man named only as Rüdiger v. P. and a former AfD member of the Bundestag and Berlin judge Birgit M.-W., 58.
25 people were arrested including Prince Heinrich XIII, who may claim descent from a now-abolished German monarchical line
Though exact details are unclear, it appears the arrested Prince Heinrich may claim descent from the House of Reuss which existed in Germany from the 11th century until the abolition of the monarchy in 1918.
All male descendants of this house were named Heinrich after Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, to whom they owed their titles and lands.
Each Heinrich was given a number after their name which went from 1 to 100 and then restarted from the beginning – meaning that, though there have been many Heinrichs through history, it is possible a Heinrich XIII would be alive today.
In 1778 Heinrich XI was elevated to princely status, after which all of his male heirs also used the title.
The house maintained lands in the modern-day state of Thuringa, with German press saying police raided a palace in the same state today.
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