- Title: German police search homes in crackdown on far-right extremists
- Date: 25th January 2017
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (JANUARY 25, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF HOUSE IN BERLIN'S WORKING CLASS MOABIT DISTRICT WHERE APARTMENT WAS SEARCHED BY POLICE AS PART OF INVESTIGATION INTO A FAR-RIGHT EXTREMIST GROUP SUSPECTED OF PLANNING ARMED ATTACKS AGAINST POLICE, JEWS AND ASYLUM SEEKERS VARIOUS OF MASKED UNDERCOVER POLICEMEN LEAVING BUILDING WITH CARDBOARD BOXES, PUTTING THEM INTO VAN PAN UP BUILDING KARLSRUHE, GERMANY (JANUARY 25, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF GERMANY'S CHIEF PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (German) PROSECUTOR AND SPOKESWOMAN FOR GERMANY'S CHIEF PROSECUTOR, FRAUKE KOEHLER, SAYING: "We carried out searches in six states today based on the suspicion of the creation of a far-right extremist group. The accused are suspected of having created a far-right terrorist organisation. Their alleged goal was to carry out armed attacks on police officers, asylum seekers and Jews." CAMERA (SOUNDBITE) (German) PROSECUTOR AND SPOKESWOMAN FOR GERMANY'S CHIEF PROSECUTOR, FRAUKE KOEHLER, SAYING: "So far we have no concrete indication that attacks were planned. During today's raids several weapons, a large amount of ammunition and explosives were confiscated." CAMERA CREW REFLECTED IN WINDOW WINDOW (SOUNDBITE) (German) PROSECUTOR AND SPOKESWOMAN FOR GERMANY'S CHIEF PROSECUTOR, FRAUKE KOEHLER, SAYING: "Further investigations will have to show to what degree there is a connection to the so called 'Reichsbuerger' (Citizens of the Reich). There is no doubt that there is a certain ideological identification." ENTRANCE TO CHIEF PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
- Embargoed: 8th February 2017 15:35
- Keywords: extremists arrest Berlin right-wing prosecutor Karlsruhe
- Location: KARLSRUHE, GERMANY
- City: KARLSRUHE, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA00160KXXL3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: About 200 German police searched a dozen homes in six states on Wednesday (January 25) as part of an investigation into a far-right extremist group suspected of planning armed attacks against police, Jews and asylum seekers, the chief prosecutor's office said.
The prosecutor's office said the early morning raids included searches of the homes of six people believed to have founded the new group, and that of a seventh person who is suspected of helping the group obtain supplies.
"So far we have no concrete indication that attacks were planned. During today's raids several weapons, a large amount of ammunition and explosives were confiscated," said prosecutor Frauke Koehler, spokeswoman for Germany's chief prosecutor.
Two of the accused were temporarily detained, Koehler added.
According to an earlier written statement from the chief prosecutor's office, the suspects were largely connected via social media and were believed to have begun planning armed attacks in the spring of 2016.
The prosecutor's office did not name the group but German media reported the raids were directed against members of a group calling itself "Reichsbuerger", or Citizens of the Reich.
"Further investigations will have to show to what degree there is a connection to the so called 'Reichsbuerger' (Citizens of the Reich). There is no doubt that there is a certain ideological identification," said Koehler.
The group does not recognise modern Germany as a legitimate state and maintains that the former, far larger "Deutsches Reich" is still alive despite Nazi Germany's defeat in World War Two.
Wednesday's raids occurred in Berlin and the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Sachsen-Anhalt. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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