German authorities on Wednesday said they had dismantled a domestic terrorist cell inspired by the QAnon conspiracy on suspicion of planning to overthrow the government.
Of the 25 people arrested in the early hours of the day, 22 are suspected of conspiring to foment a coup, the country’s federal prosecutor said. Their plans included an armed storming of the federal parliament. The other three, including a Russian citizen living in Germany, are suspected of supporting the group, the prosecutor said.
More than 3,000 police officers including special forces conducted raids at 130 properties across Germany, Italy and Austria, in one of the largest operations of its kind in recent history, officials said.
The group had been attempting to recruit police and armed-forces members and had sought to set up terrorist cells across Germany to help it install and maintain a military government, according to the prosecutor.
“The suspects are united in a deep rejection of the Federal Republic of Germany, which has in the course of time developed in a decision to initiate a violent coup for which they had made specific preparations,” the prosecutor said.
“The members of the organization understood that their endeavor could only be realized by using military means and violence against representatives of the state. This includes committing murders.”
The group was inspired by the QAnon conspiracy that has spread worldwide from the U.S. and has been linked to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, as well as the German Reichsbürger, or Citizens of the Reich, movement, which rejects the German state and its institutions, the prosecutor said.
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