BERLIN (AP) — Police in Germany arrested eight suspected members of a far-right militant organization early Tuesday, Germany’s prosecutor general said.
The suspects, some of them minors and adolescents, are believed to be part of a group of about 15 to 20 individuals called Saxon Separatists, or Saxon Separatists, which is characterized by racist, anti-Semitic and partly apocalyptic ideas, the Public Prosecution Service said in a statement.
“Its members are united in a profound rejection of the liberal-democratic order and believe that Germany is on the brink of ‘collapse’,” the statement said.
It says the group has made plans to seize power in Saxony and possibly other East German states “to set up government and social structures inspired by National Socialism.”
“If necessary, unwanted groups of people should be removed from the area through ethnic cleansing,” the prosecutor said.
The eight men were arrested at various locations in Saxony and their alleged leader was apprehended in Poland. More than 450 police officers and special units searched twenty properties in connection with the arrests.
The prosecutor’s office said the militant group has been continuously preparing for the seemingly inevitable and violent change of government since its founding in 2020.
It said its members, including the arrested suspects, have repeatedly undergone paramilitary training in combat equipment, especially urban warfare, firearms handling and other skills. The group also purchased military equipment such as camouflage clothing, combat helmets, gas masks and body armor, the statement said.
Seven other suspects were also investigated during the raids but not arrested.
Germany has repeatedly arrested far-right groups seeking to overthrow the government.
According to prosecutors, a group of so-called Reichsbuerger planned to storm the parliament building in Berlin in 2022 and arrest lawmakers. It would be primarily intended to negotiate a post-coup order with Russia, as one of the Allied victors of World War II.
German government and security officials have been warning for years about the growing threat from far-right extremists to Germany’s democratic order.
