German police raid far-right Reich Citizens movement in Saxony

German police units on Thursday searched 11 premises in the east of the country linked to the banned right-wing and anti-democratic Reich Citizens, or Reichsbürger, movement led by Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss.

A 41-year-old German man was detained in Freiberg near Dresden. He is to be brought before a Dresden court, prosecutors said.

A further eight German citizens aged between 38 and 63 and resident in Saxony have been charged with membership of, or support for, a terrorist organization, the prosecutors' statement said. It made no mention of their whereabouts.

They are accused of participating in plans to set up a system of so-called "home guard companies" for deployment after the toppling of the government.

State prosecutors said the premises searched were in the Ore Mountains and in the Saxon Switzerland region, both in the state of Saxony near the Czech border. Digital data devices, knives and radios were seized.

The Reichsbürger movement is a disparate collection of people who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic, giving their allegiance instead to the German Empire, or Reich, established in 1871.

The prosecutors' statement referred to the period between August and December 2022, and linked those charged to Reuss, who is currently on trial in Frankfurt in connection with plans to overthrow the German government.

The Reuss Reichsbürger group was uncovered following a police raid at the end of 2022. The group is accused of planning a violent overthrow of the government which it accepted would result in fatalities, and of seeking to install Reuss as head of state.

Members of the group are on trial in Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart.