Dozens arrested over plot to overthrow German government

German police have arrested 25 alleged members of a far-right terrorist group accused of plotting to overthrow the government and install a prince as national leader.

The federal prosecutor's office said more than 3,000 police officials and security force officials had been involved in raids on 130 locations across 11 German federal states. The detained suspects included Prince Heinrich XIII, a “minor aristocrat” who is “alleged to have been central” to the plot, said the BBC.

The prince is said to have been part of a group of “far-right and ex-military figures” who planned to “storm the parliament building, the Reichstag, and seize power”, the broadcaster reported. According to Die Welt, the plotters allegedly believe in a litany of “conspiracy myths and narratives”, including those of QAnon, and were “convinced that Germany was governed by a secret society”.

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Some of the members were said to belong to the extremist Reichsbürger [Citizens of the Reich] movement, which has an estimated total of “21,000 adherents”, German intelligence told news agency DPA.

Prosecutors said the detained suspects were believed to have spent the past year “procuring equipment, recruiting new members and holding shooting lessons”, and that the recruitment drive was focused on “members of the military and police officers”. Reuters reported that “one active soldier and several reservists are among those being investigated”.

The ultimate aim of the group was allegedly to establish a state “modelled on the Germany of 1871 – an empire called the Second Reich”, said the BBC.

The coup plotters had reportedly “already selected who would be in charge of various ministries within the new government”, which was to be led by Prince Heinrich XIII, said the Daily Mail.

A total of 22 German citizens were detained on suspicion of “membership in a terrorist organisation”. Two further arrests were made in Austria and Italy, and a Russian citizen was also detained, on suspicion of supporting the group.