Raid on Reich citizens: SEK officials shot

BDuring a raid on behalf of the Attorney General in Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, on Wednesday, an officer of a special task force was slightly injured. An actually uninvolved witness fired a shot, said a spokesman for the authority in Karlsruhe. The search was in connection with the group of suspected Reich citizens uncovered on December 7, who are said to have planned a coup.

According to information from the SWR, the SEK wanted to search the apartment of a previously unsuspected person in Reutlingen on behalf of the Federal Public Prosecutor in the investigation against the so-called Reuss Group. This person also fired, according to police.

According to information from ARD and the magazine “Der Spiegel”, objects in seven federal states were searched on Wednesday. The man who is said to have shot was arrested for the time being, as the spokesman for the federal prosecutor said.

This time there were searches at another 19 persons. The accused are said to come from Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Saxony.

According to research by WDR, NDR and “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, these people should also include several active police officers and soldiers. Some of them are said to have formed other networks and groups, which are also said to be characterized by extreme hostility to the state. The investigators are said to have come across them by evaluating means of communication from the first raid and financial investigations

At the beginning of December there was a large-scale anti-terror raid against so-called Reich citizens in several federal states, Austria and Italy. At that time, 25 men and women were arrested. In this process, the federal prosecutor also determined against 30 other people. It had always been said that it could not be ruled out that more suspects would be added over time.

“Reich citizens” are people who do not recognize the Federal Republic and its democratic structures. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution assigned around 23,000 people to the “Reichsbürger” and “Selbstverwalter” scene across Germany in 2022, 2,000 more than in the previous year.