Authorities anticipate additional arrests in the German coup plot in the upcoming days

In connection with a far-right gang that prosecutors claim was planning a violent revolution of the state to install a former member of a German royal family as national leader, German authorities anticipate additional arrests and raids in the upcoming days.

Georg Maier, the interior minister of the eastern German state of Thuringia, told Deutschlandfunk on Thursday that there normally follows a first wave of arrests.

Heinrich XIII P.R., the envisioned future leader, is a member of Thuringia’s royal House of Reuss and goes by the title prince.

In operations on Wednesday that involved around 3,000 security personnel and were described by Maier as unprecedented in contemporary German history, 25 members and supporters of the organisation were detained.

The 54 suspects in the case are currently under investigation, according to Holger Muench, chief of the federal police office, who also warned that number could increase.

We have found additional people, about whom we are unsure of their status in relation to this group, he said.

According to Muench, police found crossbows, weapons, ammo, protective vests, plans to establish a “homeland protection command,” and signs of recruitment during their raids on Wednesday.

As Muench put it, “We have a dangerous combination of people who are following insane convictions, some with a lot of money, others with weapons and a plan to launch assaults and extend their organizations.”

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is represented in the state legislature, was singled out by Thuringia minister Maier for serving as a conduit for right-wing extremists and fomenting what he called dreams about overthrowing the government.

The AfD capitalizes on people’s fears by offering straightforward solutions, according to Maier.

The AfD expressed trust in the competence of the authorities to rapidly and properly clarify the issue and denounced the far-right group’s attempts in a statement on Wednesday.

Credit: Reuters