German police plan further arrests after failed coup plot

Berlin — German officials expect more arrests in coming days as they investigate a far-right group that prosecutors say was preparing to overthrow the state and install a former member of a German royal family as national leader.

A former MP of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was also among those detained, according to German prosecutors.

“Based on my experience, there is usually a second wave of arrests,” Georg Maier, interior minister of the eastern German state of Thuringia, told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk on Thursday.

The alleged plot leader and would-be regent is an aristocrat called Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, descendant of the royal House of Reuss in Thuringia. Aged 71, he has been working as a real estate developer.

Neither the House of Reuss nor Prince Reuss’s office responded to requests for comment.

Twenty-five suspected members and supporters of the group were detained on Wednesday in raids by about 3,000 security personnel that Maier described as unprecedented in modern German history.

Though right-wing groups have been on the rise in Germany, the discovery of the alleged plot came as a shock in one of Europe’s most stable democracies and largest economy.

“It’s not really comprehensible,” said Melanie Merle, who lives near the apartment in the financial capital Frankfurt where Prince Reuss was arrested. “You hear about such plans from other countries, but for this to happen outside my front door? 

“The government we have is not ideal but probably better than what they  planned,” she said.

Prosecutors said the group was inspired by the deep state conspiracy theories of Germany’s Reichsbuerger and QAnon, whose advocates were among those arrested after the storming of the US Capitol in January 2021.

Reichsbuerger (citizens of the reich) members do not recognise modern-day Germany and its borders as a legitimate state. Some are devoted to the old German “Reich” (empire) under a monarchy, with some sharing Nazi ideas and believing Germany is under military occupation.

Nineteen of the alleged plotters were remanded in custody on Wednesday, while another six were expected to go before a judge on Thursday, prosecutors said.

Holger Muench, head of the federal police office, told broadcaster ARD that the number of suspects stood at 54, and that that figure could rise further.

Police in their raids on Wednesday found equipment such as protective vests, crossbows, rifles and ammunition, as well as plans to build up a “homeland protection command” and evidence of recruitment, said Muench.

“We have a dangerous mixture of people who are following irrational convictions, some with a lot of money, others in possession of weapons and a plan to launch attacks and expand their structures,” Muench said.

Maier singled out the far-right AfD) party, which is in the state parliament, for becoming an interface for right-wing extremists and spreading what he called fantasies about toppling the state.

“People are scared, and the AfD takes advantage of that and offers simple solutions,” said Maier, who is from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party.

The AfD had in a statement condemned the far-right group’s efforts and expressed confidence in the authorities’ ability to bring clarity to the situation quickly and completely. 

Reuters