Chemnitz German Nazis plot to assassinate leftie politicians

[TonyGosling]

Revolution Chemnitz: German police uncover far-right 'terrorist' group
Some 100 policemen, backed by special commando units, detain suspects aged between 28 and 30
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/revolution-chemnitz-ge rmany-far-right-terrorist-group-police-detained-revolution-chemnitz-ra cism-a8563211.html

Tom Embury-Dennis @tomemburyd
Monday 1 October 2018 12:55

German police have detained six people suspected of forming of a far-right militant organisation which assaulted foreigners and planned terrorist attacks on politicians and civil servants, authorities have said.

The men, aged 28 to 30, are accused of forming “Revolution Chemnitz”, a subversive organisation named after the city where the fatal stabbing of a German man,blamed on migrants, in August prompted the worst far-right violence in decades.

Some 100 policemen, backed by special commando units, were acting on warrants issued by the Federal Court of Justice on 28 September, the federal prosecutor’s office said.

Mayor of German far-right stronghold city tries to reassure foreigners
“Based on the information we have so far, the suspects belong to the hooligan, skinhead and neo-Nazi scene in the area of Chemnitz and considered themselves leading figures in the right-wing extremist scene in Saxony,” the public prosecutor general (GBA) said in a statement.

The men were arrested in the state of Saxony, where Chemnitz lies, and the southern region of Bavaria.

“In the course of further investigations we encountered tangible indications that the organisation pursued terrorist goals,” the statement continued, adding that the group had also planned to acquire semi-automatic rifles.

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Five of the suspects attacked and injured foreigners in Chemnitz on 14 September using glass bottles, steel knuckle gloves, and Tasers, it added.

The group had planned to carry out another attack on 3 October, the GBA said, giving no further details.

The violence in Chemnitz, where skinheads hounded migrants and performed the illegal Hitler salute in August, exposed deep divisions over chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision in 2015 to welcome almost one million, mostly Muslim, refugees.

The events in the eastern city also strained Ms Merkel’s coalition government.

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Far-right ‘vigilantes’ clash with anti-fascists over Germany killing
Her conservatives and their Social Democrat (SPD) junior coalition partners could not agree what to do with the head of the BfV domestic spy agency, who questioned the authenticity of a video showing skinheads chasing migrants and was accused of harbouring far-right views.

The partners last month reached a compromise to transfer BfV chief Hans Georg Maassen to the interior ministry, ending a row that almost felled their six-month-old government.

The GBA said a seventh suspect, believed to be the leader of the group, was detained on 14 September on charges of threatening public peace. The GBA did not say whether his arrest had led to uncovering the organisation and its other members.

All seven members of the “criminal organisation” will appear before a judge who will decide whether to keep them in remand.

The Saxony interior ministry will hold a news conference about the arrests in the state capital of Dresden.

[TonyGosling]

Chemnitz unrest: German top spy far right Maassen forced out
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45546012

18 September 2018
H-G Maassen, 24 Jul 18Image copyrightAFP

Mr Maassen works in the shadows - but now he is in the spotlight

Germany's domestic intelligence chief, Hans-Georg Maassen, has been told to quit and move to a senior post at the interior ministry.
The government decision came amid a row over Mr Maassen's response to far-right unrest in Chemnitz, eastern Germany.
Anti-migrant "hunts" were reported there on 26 August after a German man was killed in a brawl with migrants.
Mr Maassen doubted that foreign-looking people had been hounded. Chancellor Angela Merkel was urged to sack him.
Critics said his scepticism downplayed the seriousness of far-right violence and intimidation in Chemnitz.
Mr Maassen will leave the BfV spy service and become a state secretary in the interior ministry. German media report that he will actually move to a higher pay grade. It is not yet clear who will replace him.
What happened in Chemnitz?
Several xenophobic assaults were reported in the eastern city after the fatal stabbing of Daniel Hillig. They were described as racist "hunts", and images emerged showing demonstrators chasing people and flinging bottles and fireworks.
Controversially, spy chief Mr Maassen said his Federal Office for Constitutional Protection (BfV) - which is similar to the British MI5 - had "no reliable information about such hunts taking place" in Chemnitz.
He also questioned whether a video posted by "Antifa Zeckenbiss" - meaning "anti-fascist tick bite" - really showed, as claimed, a "hunt in Chemnitz" on 26 August.
Twitter post by @AZeckenbiss: #c2608 #Sachsen Menschenjagd in #Chemnitz Nazi-Hools sind heute zu allem fähig.#FckNZS Image Copyright @AZeckenbiss@AZECKENBISS
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Mr Maassen said the video could have been disinformation; he added that he did not know who was behind Antifa Zeckenbiss.
German public broadcaster ARD said in a "fact-check" that Antifa Zeckenbiss is an anonymous Twitter account, active since February, posting anti-fascist messages and "there is nothing to indicate that it is a fake account".
There were more far-right rallies in Chemnitz after 26 August, and smaller counter-demonstrations by leftists.
Mr Maassen was also criticised over his contacts with far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) politicians.
Germany jails Chemnitz Nazi salute man
Germany's far right march en masse
Are migrants driving crime in Germany?
Who decided to force him out?
Tuesday's decision was a compromise between Mrs Merkel and her coalition partners - Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, of the right-wing Bavarian CSU, and centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) leader Andrea Nahles.
Mr Seehofer defended Mr Maassen's actions over Chemnitz, but Ms Nahles wanted him dismissed.
AfD's Beatrix von Storch tweeted scornfully: "This gives the SPD what it wanted in theory, Seehofer can remain spineless and Merkel gets some peace."
What happened about the stabbing?
Investigations over the murder of Daniel Hillig are ongoing.
Earlier on Tuesday, an Iraqi man identified as Yousif A was released from custody, three weeks after he was arrested and detained over the killing.
His lawyer Ulrich Dost-Roxin said the detention had been "illegal", and accused officials and politicians of using him for political ends. "No witness accused my client of involvement in the crime," he said in a statement.
Far-right protest in Chemnitz, 27 Aug 18Image copyrightAFP
Image caption
A far-right crowd in central Chemnitz on 27 August - further rallies were held recently
A Syrian man is still in custody, and police are still looking for a third suspect.
What's the bigger picture?
The Maassen controversy has fuelled fears that Germany's main state security body may be soft on far-right extremism.
AfD is now the main opposition party, with 92 seats in the 709-seat Bundestag. It backs the far-right protests, arguing that violent asylum-seekers should be expelled from Germany.
AfD is furious with Mrs Merkel for having let in more than a million migrants in 2015-2016.
Mr Maassen's predecessor was forced to quit over BfV shortcomings in the notorious NSU neo-Nazi case, in which a terrorist cell killed 10 people in a racially-motivated campaign in 2000-2007. The BfV and police were found to have neglected or ignored racism as a motive.
Who does the BfV spy on?
It has about 3,100 staff who, along with regional intelligence services, monitor groups acting against Germany's democratic order.
It was created in 1950 by the Allied powers in Germany to guard against communist and pro-Nazi groups. It is part of the federal interior ministry and is overseen by the Bundestag.
The BfV cannot make arrests. It says most of its intelligence is gathered from open or public sources, including press reports.
It can only spy on groups - not private individuals - engaged in anti-constitutional behaviour. Separate BfV departments spy on radical left-wingers, far-right extremists and militant Islamists.
The BfV also runs counter-espionage operations, watching foreign spies in Germany. But overseas intelligence-gathering is done by the BND spy service.

[TonyGosling]

Secret plot by 200 elite neo-Nazi soldiers within 'German SAS' to slaughter politicians and immigrants in mission known as 'Day X' is smashed after former major confesses all
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/german-soldier-lieuten ant-franco-a-false-flag-refugee-terror-plot-neo-nazi-network-army-bund eswehr-a7714721.html

Elite soldiers planned to kill Green Party's Claudia Roth and other left-wingers
They wanted to execute their plot when law and order broke down in Germany
Believed that was imminent and death squads were formed for assassinations
By SEBASTIAN MURPHY-BATES FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 01:25, 10 November 2018 | UPDATED: 04:46, 12 November 2018

Two-hundred elite soldiers who formed a covert neo-Nazi faction within Germany's equivalent of the SAS planned to butcher immigrants to the country.

They conspired to unleash chaos on what they code-named Day X when they planned to kill Green Party leader Claudia Roth, foreign minister Heiko Maas and ex-president Joachim Gauck.

But authorities smashed the breakaway group of the Bundeswehr's KSK unit before their death squads could carry out the assassinations.

Authorities uncovered 200 elite soldiers who had planned to execute left-wingers (pictured, a file photo of Bundeswehr's KSK unit - there is no suggestion these servicemen were involved in the plot) +5
Authorities uncovered 200 elite soldiers who had planned to execute left-wingers (pictured, a file photo of Bundeswehr's KSK unit - there is no suggestion these servicemen were involved in the plot)

They planned to kill Green Party leader Claudia Roth (pictured) +5
They planned to kill Green foreign minister Heiko Mass (pictured) +5
They planned to kill Green Party leader Claudia Roth (left) and foreign minister Heiko Maas (right)

The 200 soldiers were also set to target leaders of asylum groups they blamed for rapes, terror and social unrest, Berlin's new weekly, Focus reports.

Their organisation's membership grew when Chancellor Angela Merkel let a million refugees into the country in 2015.

'People don't necessarily like far-Right rock music': German...

A report on the thwarting of the neo-Nazis reads: 'Numerous interrogations paint a picture of a conspiratorial force that is not supposed to shy away from the killing of political opponents.'

The racists were going to unleash Day X when law and order collapsed - something they regarded as 'imminent'.

After Angela Merkel (pictured) opened the borders the group's ranks swelled +5
They planned to kill ex-president Joachim Gauck (pictured) +5
After Angela Merkel (left) opened the borders the group's ranks swelled and they planned to kill ex-president Joachim Gauck (right)

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Police originally thought the plot was just alcohol-fuelled fantasy - but then interrogators got the truth out of a former Air Force major.

The plotters all belonged to a group called Uniter, which was founded in 1996 to take care of soldiers who had toured in Afghanistan and Africa. Uniter has denied any knowledge of the group.

German authorities have also been been scouring training camps on the Austrian and Swiss borders for weapons, ammunition, food and petrol.

Share or comment on this article: Secret plot by 200 elite neo-Nazi soldiers within 'German SAS' to slaughter politicians

[TonyGosling]

Neo-Nazi ‘terrorist cell’ on trial over alleged Berlin attack plot
Eight members of Revolution Chemnitz accused of planning armed assaults on immigrants

Mon 30 Sep 2019 12.55 B
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/30/neo-nazi-terrorist-cell- revolution-chemnitz-trial-germany

The trial of an alleged neo-Nazi cell accused of plotting a violent political uprising in Germany has begun amid fears that the far-right movement is increasingly armed and radical.

Eight members of Revolution Chemnitz, aged between 21 and 32, have been charged with forming a rightwing terrorist organisation.

A spokeswoman for the superior regional court said the defendants were accused of “coming together to achieve their political goals, to shake the foundations of the state, with serious violent acts.”

The men allegedly sought to carry out armed attacks on immigrants, political opponents, reporters and members of the economic establishment.

Authorities believe the group was trying to acquire semi-automatic weapons for a potential attack in Berlin on 3 October 2018, German Unity Day. The chief federal prosecutor, Peter Frank, said: “This is one of the most important trials to date dealing with far-right terrorism.”

Security agencies hope the trial, which is expected to continue until at least April and hear testimony from about 75 witnesses, will reveal the scope of the network.

Almost a year after most of the suspects were arrested in coordinated raids, the court proceedings opened on Monday under tight security in Dresden, the capital of Saxony state, a stronghold of the extreme right.

Resentment runs deep in the region over Angela Merkel’s refugee policies, under which more than 1 million asylum seekers have arrived in the country since 2015.

The anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won 27.5% of the vote in a state election this month, just shy of the 32% garnered by Merkel’s conservatives.

The defendants allegedly belong to the neo-Nazi and skinhead scene in and around Chemnitz, Saxony, which was the scene of anti-migrant street violence after the murder of a German man in August last year. Last month a 24-year-old Syrian man was sentenced to nine and a half years in jail for the killing.

In the hours after the stabbing, thousands of people took to the streets in protest, led by the AfD and nationalist group Pegida, which campaigns against what it calls the Islamisation of the west.

The defendants launched an online chat group under the name Revolution Chemnitz around the same time, in early September 2018.

Prosecutors said that on 14 September last year five of the suspects, armed with glass bottles, weighted knuckle gloves and an electroshock appliance, attacked and hurt several foreign residents in Chemnitz. “Investigations show the assault was a test-run for an event that one of the accused planned for 3 October 2018,” they added.

The accused reportedly wanted to achieve more than the National Socialist Underground (NSU), a neo-Nazi extremist group uncovered in 2011 that murdered 10 people and planted three bombs. Authorities say they intercepted the cell before it could carry out its plans.

Most of the defendants were arrested on 1 October 2018, and the alleged ringleader, Christian Keilberg, a 32-year-old electrician, was seized two weeks later for allegedly attacking immigrants in Chemnitz.

Saxony, a former communist state, has gained notoriety as the home base of several extremist organisations. Eight members of the far-right group Freital were jailed last year for terrorism and attempted murderafter a series of bombings targeting refugees and anti-fascist activists.

Members of the NSU evaded police for years in Chemnitz and Zwickau, another Saxon town.

The latest trial comes three months after the murder of a local pro-migrant politician, Walter Lübcke, in the western city of Kassel, allegedly by a known neo-Nazi.

This month the interior minister, Horst Seehofer, said the rise of the militant far right was “as big a threat as radical Islamism”.

At the weekend Seehofer said police officers had uncovered 1,091 weapons, including firearms and explosives, during investigations into crimes linked to the far right last year, compared with 676 in 2017.