The crackdown is described as one of the largest police operations against extremists ever carried out in the country.

The raid was carried out early on Wednesday morning against an armed group that was planning a coup d'état, reports the public service company ARD.

Federal prosecutors have told the DPA news agency that police in 11 of the country's 16 states targeted members of the far-right Reichsbürger movement.

The Reichsbürger movement consists of various far-right groups that do not recognize the Federal Republic of Germany.

They instead swear allegiance to the previous German Reich (1871–1945), which was dissolved after the country's defeat in World War II.

- People from this movement have been involved in acts of violence where people from the bailiff and the police have been killed, says Wendick

Those arrested are suspected of having made "concrete preparations to force their way into the German parliament with a small armed group," prosecutors said in a statement.

Former elite soldiers

22 of those arrested are German citizens and the other three are suspected of having supported the organization.

One person was arrested in Kitzbühel in Austria and one in the Italian city of Perugia.

Among the suspects, according to German media, are former elite soldiers and a former member of the Bundestag for the right-wing Afd party.

3,000 police officers took part in the operation, which struck over 130 homes and warehouses around the country, according to Der Spiegel.

Among other things, buildings belonging to the German military special force Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) are said to have been searched.

The unit has previously been investigated for alleged links to the extreme right.

Since 2018, KSK has been under investigation for right-wing extremism and in June 2020 it was decided to restructure the association.

On Twitter, German Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann writes that democracy is resilient.

"Since this morning, a major anti-terrorist operation has been underway.

It is suspected that an armed attack on constitutional bodies was planned.”