BERLIN
- Without warning, the German Federal Police announced on Wednesday morning the arrest of 25 people it said were members of or provided support to a right-wing "terrorist" organization for the success of a plot aimed at seizing power in the country.
The German Public Prosecutor said that this "terrorist" group, which revealed its identity - the "Reich Citizens' Movement" - was planning to seize German official buildings, including the Bundestag (German Parliament).
While the German Public Prosecutor's Office said - in a statement - that a Russian citizen is among those detained in this operation, which is one of the largest operations against right-wing extremists that the country has witnessed in decades.
The Kremlin was quick to deny its connection to the scheme that was revealed yesterday, and saw that the German security operation against the "citizens of the Reich" was an internal matter.
What is the "Reichscitizens" movement?
Citizens of the Reich or "Reichsburger" is an extreme right-wing organization that does not believe in the borders of the current German state or the borders of 1949. Rather, it believes that Germany's borders are the 1937 borders that include parts of Poland and France, and the members of this organization believe that they are an extension of the German state that begins in 1871 until the end of the Nazi era .
The citizens of the Reich do not recognize the institutions of the German state and consider the current German state illegal, and for this they do not hold official German documents, do not recognize the German courts, do not pay taxes or fines, and do not respond to the invitations made by the German authorities, and various German data indicate that the numbers of this organization It is increasing, reaching 15,600 people in 2018.
The wealthy state of Bavaria (south of the country) constitutes the largest gathering of this organization, followed by Baden-Witttemberg, then the state of North Rhine-West comes in third place, and data from the German authorities estimate the number of these at about 100,000.
Change by force
The members of this organization believe in the need for forceful change, and this poses a threat to the German state in the face of the increasing number of members of this organization. German politician Jamal Karsali denies that the number of these people is in the tens of thousands, but rather estimates their numbers at about 20 thousand only.
Karsali added to Al-Jazeera Net that the problem of these people lies in their lack of recognition of the German state or its laws, and even at the level of their personal property, they put a limit or barrier around it, and they see that German laws do not apply to them because they are "free."
It was remarkable that about 3 thousand members of the Federal Police carried out the major security operation announced by the German Minister of Justice, and orders were issued to arrest 25 people.
The German security operation included 11 states (Reuters)
The German prosecution said that the defendants established a military arm aimed at eliminating the "democratic state of law at the municipal and district levels," and added in a statement on Wednesday that the central body for regulation is called the "Council", like the cabinet in the regular government.
It is noteworthy that the organization combines several extreme right-wing groups, and perhaps its actual beginnings were in 1980, but its clearer emergence was in 2010, and its first terrorist acts in 2013. It is remarkable that among the suspected leaders of this terrorist organization are "Heinrich B.R" and Rudiger VB.
Their personal information was withheld in accordance with German law.
But the German magazine "Der Spiegel" said that Heinrich is 71 years old, and he is a member of a small German noble family, while Rudiger was a former parachute officer at the age of 69.
Among the detainees was also a German woman named "Birgitte M.W," a judge and former deputy for the "alternative right-wing" party.
Establishing a state according to an ideological vision
According to observers, what happened in Germany yesterday cannot be described as a "coup attempt", as much as it is the desire and goal of a group that seeks to end the current state and build a state according to a special vision, and this ideology finds those who embrace it and believe in it, especially since the proposals of this group target segments Young people are trying to implant in their minds the concept that current Germany is a product of the defeat of World War II, and therefore it is necessary to restore the German state that was founded in 1871, as well as the ancient history of Germany.
Observers believe that the problem of dealing with this group is that some of its members are outside Germany in Italy, Austria and other countries. Therefore, the German police rushed to arrest members of that group, in addition to a campaign that included 11 German women and searched 130 homes;
It was to prevent an imminent assault on the Bundestag, as well as the ideas of the group planning a coup, and there is suspicion of support for these ideas among important German figures.
Among the dangers of that group is the belief in violence and the wearing of military clothing openly, in addition to the German government's fear that among the members of this group are military personnel;
A spokesman for the German Defense Ministry, Arne Kolatz, announced that among the suspects are at least 3 soldiers, adding that one of them is from the Special Forces Command, and there are two other inactive soldiers.
official feedback
The German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed concern about the plans attributed to the "Reich Citizens" group to overthrow the state.
During a visit to Freiberg, Saxony (eastern Germany), he told the "MDR" station that he did not know in detail what the investigators had, "but it is a new level," as he put it.
Steinmeier added that if it is confirmed that there is preparation for terrorist crimes, "action must be taken and the criminal law must set limits," noting that Germany has a liberal democratic system, "but this liberal democracy must also be an impregnable democracy."
The German newspaper "Bild" revealed that a former deputy from the right-wing "Alternative for Germany" party was among the detainees, without mentioning his name. German Marco Buschmann called the raids "an anti-terror operation," and added that "the suspects may have planned an armed attack on state institutions."
Danger to all of Europe
The German authorities' move towards that group is not intended to prevent danger from Germany only, but from Europe in general, says constitutional law expert Mahmoud Suleiman to Al Jazeera Net.
He added that these movements threaten the modern national state in Europe, and overthrow the concept of the national constitutions upon which those states are based. Despite the criminalization of the Nazi German constitution, these movements grow under the shadow of the so-called right-wing parties and populist parties, and the problem of these groups is that they do not stop at a specific country, but rather It seeks to restore empires that extend to sovereign states.