Berliner Boersenzeitung - Germany arrests eight members of far-right paramilitary group

EUR -
AED 3.849459
AFN 71.267446
ALL 97.489194
AMD 407.131662
ANG 1.888724
AOA 957.395732
ARS 1052.23996
AUD 1.608928
AWG 1.889106
AZN 1.778344
BAM 1.94835
BBD 2.115818
BDT 125.236374
BGN 1.954483
BHD 0.394975
BIF 3036.718353
BMD 1.048048
BND 1.408315
BOB 7.241313
BRL 6.09607
BSD 1.047898
BTN 88.544945
BWP 14.307296
BYN 3.429786
BYR 20541.735881
BZD 2.112523
CAD 1.463185
CDF 3007.896896
CHF 0.929362
CLF 0.036978
CLP 1020.337634
CNY 7.58493
CNH 7.60312
COP 4601.977666
CRC 532.714856
CUC 1.048048
CUP 27.773265
CVE 110.700038
CZK 25.368204
DJF 186.258433
DKK 7.459213
DOP 63.305535
DZD 140.00766
EGP 52.060203
ERN 15.720716
ETB 129.012117
FJD 2.380379
FKP 0.827242
GBP 0.832233
GEL 2.855918
GGP 0.827242
GHS 16.611978
GIP 0.827242
GMD 74.41137
GNF 9044.651585
GTQ 8.090067
GYD 219.261645
HKD 8.157359
HNL 26.384543
HRK 7.475996
HTG 137.593904
HUF 411.299528
IDR 16692.832925
ILS 3.893576
IMP 0.827242
INR 88.571355
IQD 1373.466575
IRR 44128.050457
ISK 146.100754
JEP 0.827242
JMD 166.433635
JOD 0.743174
JPY 162.013521
KES 135.723264
KGS 90.648567
KHR 4244.593516
KMF 489.959968
KPW 943.242577
KRW 1467.528958
KWD 0.322411
KYD 0.873361
KZT 519.70306
LAK 23009.888592
LBP 93905.078447
LKR 304.924111
LRD 189.120651
LSL 18.979788
LTL 3.094612
LVL 0.633954
LYD 5.119731
MAD 10.475264
MDL 19.084031
MGA 4894.383123
MKD 61.499953
MMK 3404.018207
MNT 3561.266195
MOP 8.401216
MRU 41.822309
MUR 48.632961
MVR 16.203073
MWK 1818.362584
MXN 21.399862
MYR 4.679553
MZN 67.022637
NAD 18.97998
NGN 1768.213504
NIO 38.557204
NOK 11.607569
NPR 141.67231
NZD 1.787898
OMR 0.4035
PAB 1.047993
PEN 3.977374
PGK 4.219178
PHP 61.802851
PKR 291.409517
PLN 4.343765
PYG 8225.236565
QAR 3.81568
RON 4.976446
RSD 116.993815
RUB 106.1678
RWF 1435.825416
SAR 3.934914
SBD 8.756995
SCR 14.316445
SDG 630.380512
SEK 11.596769
SGD 1.410704
SHP 0.827242
SLE 23.659663
SLL 21977.042238
SOS 598.917452
SRD 37.106106
STD 21692.472405
SVC 9.169938
SYP 2633.251262
SZL 18.980071
THB 36.391332
TJS 11.161424
TMT 3.668167
TND 3.317061
TOP 2.454635
TRY 36.149672
TTD 7.1138
TWD 34.1281
TZS 2779.798908
UAH 43.266431
UGX 3872.047297
USD 1.048048
UYU 44.65797
UZS 13498.85466
VES 48.210488
VND 26643.9939
VUV 124.426335
WST 2.925721
XAF 653.458476
XAG 0.033959
XAU 0.000393
XCD 2.832401
XDR 0.799443
XOF 649.260344
XPF 119.331742
YER 261.933367
ZAR 18.957858
ZMK 9433.687606
ZMW 28.899502
ZWL 337.470948
  • CMSC

    0.1200

    24.64

    +0.49%

  • RBGPF

    -0.5000

    59.69

    -0.84%

  • RIO

    0.0900

    62.48

    +0.14%

  • NGG

    -0.2600

    63.01

    -0.41%

  • GSK

    0.2250

    33.575

    +0.67%

  • AZN

    0.5850

    63.785

    +0.92%

  • RELX

    0.5150

    45.625

    +1.13%

  • SCS

    0.1350

    13.205

    +1.02%

  • CMSD

    0.1100

    24.37

    +0.45%

  • BTI

    -0.1200

    36.96

    -0.32%

  • BP

    0.3450

    29.425

    +1.17%

  • BCC

    3.3150

    140.725

    +2.36%

  • RYCEF

    0.1800

    6.79

    +2.65%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

  • VOD

    -0.1100

    8.83

    -1.25%

  • BCE

    -0.4900

    26.51

    -1.85%

Germany arrests eight members of far-right paramilitary group
Germany arrests eight members of far-right paramilitary group / Photo: Uli DECK - AFP

Germany arrests eight members of far-right paramilitary group

German police on Tuesday arrested eight suspected members of a right-wing extremist group that had trained for what they expected would be the collapse of state order, prosecutors said.

Text size:

Hundreds of police in pre-dawn raids swooped on 20 locations linked to the militant group "Saxonian Separatists" in formerly communist eastern Germany and neighbouring Poland, with locations also searched in Austria.

Federal prosecutors said the operation targeted "a militant group of 15 to 20 individuals whose ideology is characterised by racist, anti-Semitic and partially apocalyptic ideas".

The prosecutors said the group's members, mostly young men, strongly rejected Germany's liberal democratic order and believed the government was nearing "collapse" on an unspecified "Day X".

In anticipation of that day, the militants had planned to take control of parts of their state of Saxony and potentially other east German regions.

Their plan was "to establish governmental and societal structures inspired by National Socialism" that would have sought to target "unwanted groups of people by means of ethnic cleansing".

They had conducted paramilitary training in combat gear, with a focus on "urban warfare and firearms handling" as well as marching and patrolling.

Authorities partially named the suspects, all German nationals, as alleged ringleader Joern S. and members Kurt H., Karl K., Kevin M., Hans-Georg P., Kevin R., Joerg S. and Norman T.

They were arrested in and near the cities of Leipzig and Dresden, with Joerg S., 23, detained in Poland.

Prosecutors said raids on Tuesday also targeted the premises of individuals not considered suspects in Austria, including the capital Vienna.

- 'Longing for Day X' -

News weekly Der Spiegel wrote that one of the suspects, Kurt H., is a member of the youth wing of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), and that he suffered a gunshot wound during the arrest.

Spiegel, citing unnamed security sources, said that he had reached for a rifle and police commandos fired two "warning shots".

Kurt H. collapsed with a shot wound to the jaw which was not life-threatening, and it remained unclear whether the bullet was discharged by a police gun or his own rifle, the report said.

The anti-immigration AfD is especially popular in the east of Germany and made strong gains in regional elections in the states of Thuringia and Brandenburg in September.

Prosecutors said the group "Saxonian Separatists", with the initials SS, was founded about four years ago and that its members had since then made "continuous preparations for the perceived inevitable and violent change of government".

The group had procured camouflage fatigues, combat helmets, gas masks and bullet-proof vests, prosecutors said in a statement.

More than 450 law enforcement personnel joined the operation, including state and federal police officers and commandos, in cooperation with the domestic intelligence service.

The men arrested were due to face the Federal Court of Justice in the western city of Karlsruhe on Tuesday and Wednesday with judges set to decide whether to keep them in pre-trial detention.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser thanked the security services, whom she said had "thwarted at an early stage militant plans for a coup by right-wing terrorists who were longing for a Day X to attack people and the state with armed force".

Germany has dismantled several far-right cells in recent years, including a bizarre plot led by an aristocrat who has been on trial for planning a coup.

Their plan to overthrow Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government allegedly drew inspiration from the global QAnon movement and the German Reichsbuerger (Citizens of the Reich) extremist movement that rejects the legitimacy of the modern German republic.

According to the latest report from Germany's intelligence services, the country's number of right-wing extremists considered potentially violent rose to 14,500 last year.

(T.Burkhard--BBZ)