German police have foiled a radical anti-vaxxers’ plot to kill the minister-president of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, and other officials, after six people were investigated and several properties searched.
“Six suspects of German nationality” – five men and one woman, all members of a Telegram chat group called Dresden Offline Networking – are suspected of “having prepared a serious act of violence that could endanger the state,” police said in a statement.
The authorities confirmed earlier that an operation involving the search of “multiple properties” had been conducted “with the participation of the special task force.” The searches followed an investigative report by the German TV show ‘Frontal’ on the public broadcast network ZDF about the radical Covid dissident group and its violent plans.
“Evidence was found in the course of the searches. In particular, there were several crossbows and weapons,” the law enforcement agency said, adding that their investigation was still in progress.
The eastern state of Saxony has the lowest vaccination rate in Germany, and its capital city, Dresden, has seen numerous large-scale protests against current and proposed coronavirus-related restrictions. Frontal’s journalists infiltrated the Telegram group, which, according to its report, included more than 100 members who “showed a high propensity for violence.”
“For them, Germany is a dictatorship, corona is just a flu, or, alternatively, an invention of the Jews and the ‘lying press’,” reads an article on the ZDF website.
Among other matters, the antivaxxers used the channel to discuss plans to murder the minister-president, Frontal alleges. Kretschmer, who did not initially support tough Covid measures but later changed his mind, said all legal means should be used against such threats.
“People in public office should have no fear of speaking their mind and doing their job,” he said.
