A police officer was shot dead during raids in Germany’s Reichsbuerger investigation – #police #officer #shot #dead #raids #Germanys #Reichsbuerger #investigation
Summary The raids were linked to an investigation into a far-right movement.
BERLIN, March 22 (Reuters) – A German police officer was shot and wounded during raids on properties across the country in connection with investigations into the far-right Reichsbuerger movement accused of plotting to overthrow the government, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
A man named Markus L. was detained on suspicion of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm after the shooting in the southern town of Reutlingen, near Stuttgart, prosecutors said.
The searches followed raids in December, when German police said members of the Reichsbuerger movement had staged a violent coup and arrested aristocrat Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss. national conducted after preventing the plan to appoint a leader.
Reichsbuerger (citizens of the Reich) do not recognize modern Germany as a legitimate state.
Prosecutors said the raids in eight German states and Switzerland targeted five people suspected of belonging to a terrorist organization and 14 others who were not suspects but may have useful material.
“Spiegel Online” news reports that among the suspects and witnesses whose properties were searched, there are several employees of the German security service. Investigators also three the police officer, four reservists and a sea captain were also interested.
Prosecutors were not immediately available for comment.
Germany’s domestic intelligence service Verfassungsschutz put the Reichsbuerger movement under surveillance in 2016.
Today, the agency says about 21,000 people have joined the movement, and about 5% of them are far-right extremists. The authorities were particularly concerned about the possession of weapons in the movement.
“Federal prosecutors today 20 searched the property. The event is related to the Reichsbuerger incident. One the police was shot”, – Minister of Justice Marko Bushman wrote on his Twitter account.
“This shows how dangerous the missions are. It is the government’s duty to disarm the Reichsbuerger,” he said.
Marcus L. was initially treated as a witness rather than a suspect. Entering his apartment the police employees identified themselves, prosecutors said.
“They encountered Marcus L. in the living room already pointing a high-caliber handgun at officers, they said, and he ignored repeated requests to put the weapon down.
“During the shooting, a police officer was shot in the arm,” the prosecutors said in a statement. Later he was detained.
Minister of Internal Affairs Nancy Feser said that there is a need to tighten Germany’s gun laws.
By Madeline Chambers report; Edited by Friederike Heine, Miranda Murray, Bernadette Baum, and Alison Williams
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-03-23 01:10:08
Source – reuters
Translation“24 HOURS”