Shots ‘fired at police’ during raids on German far-right group

The police were searching a home in Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, on Wednesday morning as part of their investigations into the far-right Reichsbürger group when the shots were fired. 

One official suffered minor injuries as a result of the attack, according to reports. 

One witness near the scene said they had heard a loud bang at around 6am on Wednesday. Peter-Rosegger-Straße – where the incident allegedly took place – remained cornered off throughout the morning. 

Advertisement

A spokeswoman for the Attorney General told Zeit Online that the search was not directed against an accused in the investigation, but against a witness. The man is suspected of having fired the shot and was arrested at the site.  

According to the spokesperson, the Federal Public Prosecutor in Karlsruhe is now treating the case as an attempted homicide and has taken over the investigation into the suspect. 

Several German media sources reported that there had been searches at 19 premises in seven federal states and in Switzerland as part of the Wednesday morning raids.

According to Spiegel, 22 properties were searched throughout Germany, including in Berlin and in Singen. A property in the Göttingen area was also affected, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior in Hanover.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What you need to know about gun laws in Germany

Coup plot

Since last September, police have been investigating around 50 suspects on suspicion of forming a terrorist organisation alongside the Frankfurt businessman and far-right conspiracy theorist Heinrich XIII Prince Reuß.

On December 7th last year, officials foiled a suspected plot to violently overthrow the German government in a number of large-scale raids. Twenty-five members of the group – including Heinrich XIII – have been in pre-trail detention since that date.  

Heinrich was arrested at his Frankfurt home during the raids on suspicion of acting as the group’s ringleader. He had allegedly envisioned himself as the head of the new government in Germany following the coup. 

Many of those suspected to be involved in the plot are associated with the far-right Reichsbürger group, who question the legitimacy of modern Germany and its democratic instutions.

Members of the group have previously been involved in shoot-outs with the police, including an incident in 2016 that led to the death of a police officer in Bavaria. 

READ ALSO: Who was involved in the alleged plot to overthrow German democracy?