German police arrest eight suspected members of far-right militant group

Police in Germany arrested eight suspected members of a far-right militant organisation early on Tuesday, Germany’s public prosecutor said.

The suspects, some of them minors and adolescents, were allegedly part of a group of around 15-20 individuals called Sachsische Separatisten, or Saxonian Separatists, that is characterised by racist, antisemitic and partially apocalyptic ideas, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

“Its members are united in a profound rejection of the liberal democratic order and believe that Germany is nearing ‘collapse’,” the statement said.

It said the group plotted to seize power in Saxony and potentially other eastern German states “to establish governmental and societal structures inspired by National Socialism”.

“If necessary, unwanted groups of people are supposed to be removed from the area by means of ethnic cleansing,” the prosecutor said.

The eight men were arrested in different location across Saxony and their alleged ringleader was apprehended in Poland. More than 450 police officers and special forces searched 20 premises in connection with the arrests.

“Even ethnic cleansing was part of their inhuman plans,” justice minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement.

He said that the arrests were a reminder that the German constitutional state and the free and democratic order “are under threat from many sides”.

“We must do everything we can to defend our liberal democracy against its enemies,” he said.

The prosecutor’s office said that since its founding in 2020, the militant group made continuous preparations for the perceived inevitable and violent change of government.

It said its members, including the arrested suspects, repeatedly completed paramilitary training in combat gear, practised specifically urban warfare, firearms handling and other skills. The group also procured military hardware, such as camouflage fatigues, combat helmets, gas masks and bullet-proof vests, the statement said.

Seven other suspects were also investigated in the raids but not detained.

Germany has repeatedly targeted far-right groups wanting to overthrow the government.

In 2022, a group of so-called Reichsbuerger planned to storm into the parliament building in Berlin and arrest MPs, according to prosecutors. It allegedly intended to negotiate a post-coup order primarily with Russia, as one of the allied victors of the Second World War.

German government and security officials have warned for years of the growing threat by far-right extremists to Germany’s democratic order.