German police officer shot during raid on far-right group

German police officer is wounded in shootout with ‘gun nut’ during raid on far-right group trying to overthrow the government

  • Suspect claimed to be a sports shooter with 22 weapons registered in his name
  • Reichsbürger movement last year planned to stage a violent coup in Germany

A police officer has been shot in Germany while rounding up members of a far-right movement accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

At around 6:15am yesterday, three shots were fired during a police raid on an address in south Germany connected to the Reichsbürger movement.

The SEK officer was wounded as he stormed the flat belonging to ‘Markus L’, 46, in Reutlingen, embroiled in a shootout with suspects.

Markus L is reported to have given up his ‘high calibre weapon’ after hitting the officer in the arm, and was promptly arrested and detained on suspicion of several counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.

The Reichsbürger movement aims to establish a new government in Germany based on the German Empire of 1871.

German special task force police officers are seen following a raid on  March 22, 2023

German SEK special task force police officers are seen following a raid in the so-called Reichsbuerger scene

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann confirmed on Twitter after the raid: ‘Federal prosecutors had 20 properties searched today. 

‘The measure is related to the Reichsbürger scene. A policeman was shot.’

Prosecutors said Markus L, who shot the police officer, was initially being treated as a witness.

READ MORE: German far-right coup-plotters wanted to EXECUTE chancellor Olaf Scholz: Leader was among chilling list of 18 politicians found when cops rounded up Reichsburger terrorists 

 

Police identified themselves upon entry.

He was reportedly already pointing a high-calibre gun at officers when they walked in.

Police asked Markus L several times to lower his weapon, before an exchange of gunfire broke out and an unnamed police officer was shot in the arm.

According to Bild, the suspect is a sports shooter and gun nut who had 22 weapons registered in his name.

Spiegel Online reported that several members of the German security services were among suspects and witnesses who had their properties searched.

Investigators were also reportedly ‘interested’ in three police officers and military personnel. 

The searches follow raids in December, when German police foiled a plot by  Reichsbürger members trying to stage a violent coup.

Followers of the movement, who do not recognise the German state, were apparently trying to install the aristocrat Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss as the new German leader.

The group then planned to storm the Capitol building in Berlin, arrest lawmakers, and execute the German Chancellor, according to NYT sources. 

Germany’s domestic intelligence service Verfassungsschutz has been ‘observing’ the movement since 2016.

The agency says some 21,000 people adhere to the movement. 

The movement aims to recreate the setting of Germany post-unification in 1871.

The German Empire emerged from the rising North German Confederation as it annexed disputed territories from rival France during its historic victory in the Franco-Prussian war.

Thomas Strobl, Interior Minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg adjusts his tie as he stands in front of a house following a raid in the so-called Reichsbuerger scene

A German SEK special task force police officer pictured walking after yesterday’s raid

The Reichsbürger’s predecessor, the KRR, was founded in 1985.

Its members today still share the belief that the Federal Republic of Germany does not exist, and that Germany maintains its historical imperial borders.

They believe the Federal Republic of Germany is ‘an administrative construct still occupied by the Allied Powers’. 

The movement is also tied to a number of racist and anti-semitic pseudoscientific beliefs.

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