Germany arrests self-declared 'king' and bans his extremist group

A self-declared "king" of Germany and 3 of his elder "subjects" person been arrested and their radical banned for attempting to overthrow the state.

Peter Fitzek, 59, was among those arrested successful greeting raids crossed 7 states connected Tuesday, which progressive astir 800 information personnel.

The authorities banned their group, the Reichsbürger, oregon "citizens of the Reich", which seeks to found the Königreich Deutschland, oregon "Kingdom of Germany".

Alexander Dobrindt, German's interior minister, accused the radical of attempting to "undermine the regularisation of law" by creating an alternate authorities and spreading "antisemitic conspiracy narratives to backmost up their expected assertion to authority".

His ministry announced the dissolution of the group, and accused it financing itself done "economic transgression structures".

Fitzek, a erstwhile cook and karate instructor, calls himself "king" and identified himself to judges arsenic "Peter the First" successful a erstwhile tribunal case.

He had himself crowned successful 2012 portion dressed successful ermine robes and brandishing a medieval sword. Since past helium has been buying onshore and spot crossed Germany.

Reichsbürgers person their ain currency, emblem and ID cards, and privation to acceptable up abstracted banking and wellness systems.

Fitzek claims to person thousands of followers - oregon "subjects".

In an interrogation with the BBC successful 2022 helium denied having immoderate convulsive intentions, but besides described the German authorities arsenic "destructive and sick".

"I person nary involvement successful being portion of this fascist and satanic system," helium told the BBC's Jenny Hill, erstwhile she visited his "kingdom" successful eastbound Germany.

Fitzek has repeatedly clashed with the authorities and refused to abide by German laws, often successful what appears to beryllium successful a publicity-seeking manner.

He has antecedently been jailed for repeatedly driving without a licence, pursuing a determination to manus his backmost successful a symbolic rejection of the law. At the extremity of 1 proceedings session, Fitzek was seen getting into his car successful beforehand of the tribunal and driving off.

Fitzek is one of astir 25,000 Reichsbürger successful Germany. Numbers person been increasing implicit the past fewer years.

Many are right-wing extremists who peddle racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories. They garbage to recognise the authorization of information forces and galore person amerciable arms, which has led to shoot-outs with police. Officials accidental that astir 2,500 are perchance convulsive and that 1,350 are classed arsenic right-wing extremists.

In 2022 dozens of radical were arrested, galore of them Reichsbürger, for plotting to overthrow the German authorities successful Berlin. They were accused of readying a convulsive coup, which included kidnapping the wellness minister, to make "civil warfare conditions" to bring down German democracy.

In the past, Reichsbürger were often dismissed arsenic eccentric cranks due to the fact that of their outlandish ideas.

But arsenic the acold close has grown successful spot politically successful Germany implicit the past decade, officials present spot them arsenic a superior threat.

The national prosecutor's bureau successful Karlsruhe said Fitzek was arrested on with 3 different suspected ringleaders of the group, which it classified arsenic a transgression organisation.

As the "so-called ultimate sovereign", Fitzek had "control and decision-making powerfulness successful each cardinal areas", the bureau said.

"The 'Kingdom of Germany' considers itself a sovereign authorities wrong the meaning of planetary instrumentality and strives to widen its claimed 'national territory' to the borders of the German Empire of 1871," it added successful a statement.