German police on Tuesday arrested eight suspected members of a right-wing extremist group that had trained for what they expected would be the collapse of state order, prosecutors said.
Hundreds of police in pre-dawn raids swooped in on 20 locations linked to the militant group “Saxonian Separatists” in formerly communist eastern Germany and neighbouring Poland, with locations also searched in Austria.
Federal prosecutors said the operation targeted “a militant group of 15 to 20 individuals whose ideology is characterised by racist, anti-Semitic and partially apocalyptic ideas”.
The prosecutors said the group’s members, mostly young men, strongly rejected Germany’s liberal democratic order and believed the government was nearing “collapse” on an unspecified “Day X”.
In expectation of that day, the militants had planned to take control over parts of their state of Saxony and potentially other east German regions.
Their plan was “to establish governmental and societal structures inspired by National Socialism” that would have sought to target “unwanted groups of people… by means of ethnic cleansing”.
They had conducted paramilitary training in combat gear, with a focus on “urban warfare and firearms handling” as well as marching and patrolling.
Authorities partially named the suspects, all German nationals, as alleged ringleader Joern S. and members Kurt H., Karl K., Kevin M., Hans-Georg P., Kevin R., Joerg S. and Norman T.
They were arrested in and around the cities of Leipzig and Dresden and in nearby areas, with Joerg S., 23, detained in Poland.
Raids also targeted the premises of individuals not considered suspects in Austria including the capital Vienna.
Prosecutors said the group was founded about four years ago and since then had made “continuous preparations for the perceived inevitable and violent change of government”.
