‘Second wave of arrests’ expected after Germany foils far-right coup plot

A day after police in Germany arrested 25 people for attempting to plot a coup against the govenment, authorities said a second wave of arrests and raids could be expected in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday, about 3,000 police officials carried out a series of raids across Germany and arrested 25 alleged members of a group called the Reich Citizens movement.

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

“We have identified further people where we are not sure yet what their status is in connection with this group,” he was quoted as saying by broadcaster Deutschlandfunk on Thursday.

German media reported that the group included ex-military figures and a minor aristocrat who calls himself Prince Heinrich XIII, despite the ban on the use of formal royal titles in the country.

Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss is one of the last descendents of a dynasty that once ruled over swathes of eastern Germany, the local media said. He was one of the 25 members and supporters of the far-right group planning the alleged coup.

Justice minister Marco Buschmann described the raids as an “anti-terrorism operation”. Germany’s top security official said the group was “driven by violent coup fantasies and conspiracy ideologies”.

The group allegedly planned to storm the Reichstag building and seize power.

Police, during Wednesday’s raids, found equipment ranging from protective vests to crossbows, rifles and ammunition as well as plans to build up a “homeland protection command” and evidence of recruitment, Holger Muench, the head of the federal police office, told the media.

“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.”

The Reich Citizens movement, which denies the existence of the modern German state, has seen a considerable influx in the past year and presents a persistently high level of danger, Thomas Haldenwang, head of Germany‘s domestic intelligence agency said on Wednesday.

Mr Muench told broadcaster ARD that the number of suspects in the case now stood at 54, and that this figure could rise further, reported Reuters.

“We have identified further people where we are not sure yet what their status is in connection with this group,” he said.

Interior minister Nancy Faeser said on Wednesday that those involved in the alleged plot were “the enemies of democracy”. “The investigations provide a glimpse into the abyss of a terrorist threat from the Reichsbuerger milieu,” she said in a statement.

Justice minister Marco Buschmann described the raids as an “anti-terrorism operation”, adding that the suspects may have planned an armed attack on institutions of the state.