The coup attempt by the hardline “Citizens of the Reich” movement in Germany demonstrated the security risks, most notably the use by illegal groups of the current economic crisis to threaten public education and attempt to dismantle it.
According to security expert Yassim Muhammad, head of the European Center for Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Studies in Germany, the Interior Ministry takes the threat posed by the movement seriously because “the potential for violence is very high.” On Wednesday morning, German authorities thwarted a “massive coup attempt” planned by the far-right Citizens of the Reich movement.
Arrest warrants have been issued for 25 people suspected of the assassination, which authorities have described as a terrorist attack, and a spokeswoman for the Karlsruhe prosecutor’s office said police carried out separate attacks to prosecute the accused in 11 states. According to a statement released by the prosecutor’s office, the movement created a military unit to eliminate law and order at the municipal and provincial levels, and some alleged members of this unit served in the army.
“Citizens of the Reich”:
• Founded in 1949, banned in 1952.
• About 20,000 people belong to it, permeated with state institutions, especially security and defense.
• The movement possesses a large quantity of weapons and explosives and has the ability to manufacture improvised explosive devices under police supervision, as well as conducting numerous operations to steal weapons from government warehouses.
• The government is concerned about the movement’s gun ownership despite being sanctioned, and the authorities are trying to deprive “Reich citizens” of gun ownership wherever legally possible.
• The movement does not believe in democracy, nor in the state, which it considers illegitimate, and refuses to abide by the laws.
• The movement has already attempted to assassinate the German Minister of Health, and the authorities have prevented other operations.
• Known for his anti-Semitism and racism towards race and religious beliefs.
• You believe in a return to Germany’s prehistoric borders before Germany’s defeat in World War II, which now includes parts of Poland and France.
• He distorts the facts, makes false accusations and relies on historical quasi-legal arguments.
Mohammed believes that the danger of the movement “will persist and will greatly escalate in the coming period.”
The security expert believes that the movement “seeks to use the economic and political crises that the country is going through after the war in Ukraine to further its program of dismantling the state.”
