Police foil QAnon-inspired plot to overthrow German government Transcript

We begin in Germany, a major arrest in an alleged plot to overthrow the government. Police staged early morning raids across the country, detaining more than two dozen people suspected of conspiring to attack the Parliament. Another two dozen people are being investigated. Prosecutors say members of the far right group called Reich Citizens’ Movement followed conspiracy myths and QAnon ideology. Germany has been struggling to get a grip on far right extremism in recent years. I want to bring in CNN’s Nic Robertson more on this developing story. He joined us now from London. Good to have you with us, Nic. So a significant number of arrests right across Germany in about a dozen states, plus two other countries. What can you tell us about those arrested?

Yeah, we know that one of them, who’s believed to be the ringleader, is a sort of a minor member of German royalty, if you like. Heinrich the 13th, Prince Royce is how he’s being referred to. There are pictures of his arrest, the man in a tweed jacket, a elderly looking gentleman in a tweed jacket. We also know that there was a former member of Parliament arrested as well, a member of the fairly right wing party, the AFD, was arrested as well.

(01:22)
The conspiracy though, and the plotting and planning that the police believe was underway, was of a violent nature, that it was going to target the Bundestag, the Parliament, literally, and try to disrupt it, try to stop it working. And then impose their own parallel government that they had appointed ministers, and that they were ready to essentially get rid of the federal government and put in a new one. And this is because, the theory, the conspiracy theory that they subscribe to, believes that the current German state is illegitimate. And I think this gets to what we heard from the Interior Minister earlier who said that they believe in violent fantasies and conspiracy ideologies. So it does seem that the authorities have headed off what would’ve been a very dangerous and potentially deadly plot and plan.

Highly, highly concerning. Talk to us more, Nic, about the group’s ties to QAnon and what else this group has in common with far right extremists around the world.

Well, it believes in discredited yet easily to access ideologies, things that don’t stand the test of scrutiny. Their notion that the German state is illegitimate is based on a theory that says that post World War II, the new German state that came out of World War II was established and run and controlled by the Allies who fought against Nazi Germany. Of course, that’s ridiculous, but like the QAnon conspiracy theorists, they take conspiracy theories, that one about the pizza parlor that became so well known and had people showing up there, et cetera, that do not stand the test of scrutiny. They stick to them. And clearly, in the case of this former MP, have involved politicians of previously potentially good standing in the country, enough to be in the Bundestag.

(03:36)
But the conspiracy itself seems to have been shared and believed at a hardcore level by the 52 people that the police were going after today. We know they got 25, they know there’s 27 members still out there. So these conspiracy theories have fed out, as we saw with QAnon, fed into the broader population, bought supporters within and members from within the broader population. And in this case, again, as was seen in Washington DC, where members of QAnon turned up using violent means to gain access to the seat of power. And that was exactly the similar type of plan that this group was planning in Germany. And in this case, they were planning to use weapons, it appears from what we’ve heard from the German Attorney General.

All right, Nic Robertson staying across this, a developing story for us. Thanks very much.