German authorities on Wednesday detained 25 members and supporters of a far-right group that the prosecutor’s office said were preparing a violent overthrow of the state, with some members suspected of plotting an armed attack on the parliament.
One active soldier and several reservists are among those being investigated, a spokesperson for the military intelligence service told Reuters. The active soldier is a member of the Special Forces Command, it said.
A former parliamentary lawmaker from the far-right Alternative For Germany (AfD) who serves as a judge in Berlin was also among those detained, along with a former member of a German royal family.
Investigators suspect individual members of the group had concrete plans to storm the Bundestag lower house of parliament in Berlin with a small armed group, the prosecutor’s office said.
One of the suspects, identified as Heinrich XIII P. R. under Germany’s privacy law, had reached out to representatives of Russia, whom the group saw as its central contact for establishing its new order, the office said. It said there was no evidence the representatives had reacted positively to the request.
( Source Reuters)
