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The individual proclaiming himself the “king” of Germany, along with three top associates, has been detained for an alleged attempt to topple the government, as reported by the media.
Peter Fitzek, 59, was taken into police custody during morning raids conducted Tuesday in seven German states, the BBC reported.
Fitzek’s group, the Reichsbürger, or “citizens of the Reich,” has also been banned by the government.
Peter Fitzek, the self-declared leader of the purported “Kingdom of Germany,” displays self-made paper currency in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 23, 2023. (Jens Schlueter/AFP)
He said the group finances itself through crime.
Fitzek, who claims to have thousands of “subjects,” denied having violent intentions but also called Germany “destructive and sick.”
In 2022, numerous individuals linked to the Reichsbürger were apprehended for conspiring to overthrow the German government in Berlin. They faced charges of orchestrating a violent coup that included plans to abduct the health minister as a means to incite “civil war conditions” aimed at dismantling German democracy, according to the BBC.
Self-made identity and banking documents of the so-called “Kingdom of Germany” are pictured in Wittenberg, Germany, Oct. 23, 2023. (Jens Schlueter/AFP via Getty Images)
Once dismissed as eccentric by critics, the group is now seen within Germany as a serious threat as the far right has grown politically over the past decade, the report said.
