WE BEGIN IN GERMANY A MAJOR ARREST IN AN ALLEGED PLOT TO
OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT. POLICE STAGE EARLY MORNING
RAIDS 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 FOLLOWED
CONSPIRACY TENNIS 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 NICK
ROBERTSON FOR MORE ON THIS DEVELOPING STORY.
HE JOINS US NOW FROM LONDON. GOOD TO HAVE YOU WITH US, NICK.
A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF ARRESTS RATE ACROSS GERMANY IN ABOUT A
DOZEN STATES PLUS TO OTHER COUNTRIES.
WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THOSE ARRESTED?
>> YEAH, WE KNOW THAT ONE OF THEM WHO IS BELIEVED TO BE THE
RINGLEADER IS A MINOR MEMBER OF GERMAN ROYALTY IF YOU LIKE.
HEINRICH THE 13TH PRINCE ROYCE'S WILL HOW HE'S BEING
REFERRED TO. THERE ARE PICTURES OF HIS
ARREST IN A TWEED JACKET AND AN ELDERLY LOOKING MAN IN A TREAT
JACKET. WE ALSO KNOW THERE WAS A FORMER
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT ARRESTED AS WELL, A MEMBER OF THE
RIGHT-WING PARTY. THE AFB.
THEY WERE ARRESTED AS WELL. THE CONSPIRACY AND THE PLOTTING
AND PLANNING THE POLICE BELIEVE WAS UNDERWAY WAS OF A VIOLENT
NATURE. IT WAS GOING TO TARGET THE
PARLIAMENT AND TRY TO DISRUPT IT, TRY TO STOP IT AND THEN
IMPOSE THEIR OWN PARALLEL GOVERNMENT THAT THEY HAD
APPOINTED. THEY HAD MINISTERS AND THEY
WERE READY TO, ESSENTIALLY, GET RID OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
AND PUT IN A NEW ONE. THIS IS BECAUSE THE THEORY A
CONSPIRACY THEORY THAT THEY SUBSCRIBE TO BELIEVES THAT THE
CURRENT GERMAN STATE IS ILLEGITIMATE.
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 HANDED OFF WHAT WOULD BE A VERY DANGEROUS
AND POTENTIALLY DEADLY PLOT AND PLAN.
>> HIGHLY, HIGHLY CONCERNING. TALK TO US MORE, NICK, ABOUT
THE GROUP'S TIES TO QANON AND WHAT ELSE DOES THIS GROUP HAVE
IN COMMON WITH FAR-RIGHT EXTREMIST AROUND THE WORLD?
>> IT BELIEVES IN DISCREDITED YET EASILY TO ACCESS IDEOLOGIES.
THINGS THAT DON'T STAND THE TEST OF SCRUTINY.
THE 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 NOT SEE
GERMANY. OF COURSE THAT IS RIDICULOUS.
LIKE THE QANON CONSPIRACY THEORISTS, THEY TAKE CONSPIRACY
THEORIES THE ONE ABOUT THE PIZZA PARLOR THAT BECAME SO
WELL-KNOWN AND HAD PEOPLE SHOWING UP THERE, ET CETERA.
THEY DID NOT STAND THE TEST OF SCRUTINY.
THEY STICK TO THEM. CLEARLY, IN THE CASE OF THIS
FORMER MP THEY HAVE INVOLVED POLITICIANS OF PREVIOUSLY
POTENTIALLY GOOD STANDING IN THE COUNTRY.
AND ENOUGH TO BE IN THE BUNDESTAG.
THE CONSPIRACY ITSELF SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN SHED AND BELIEVED IN
A HARD-CORE LEVEL BY THE 52 PEOPLE THE POLICE ARE GOING
AFTER TODAY. THEY HAD 25, THERE'S A 27
MEMBERS STILL OUT THERE. THESE CONSPIRACY THEORIES HAVE
FED OUT AS WE SAW WITH QANON AND FED INTO THE BROADER
POPULATION AND BOUGHT SUPPORTERS WITHIN AND MEMBERS
FROM WITHIN THE BROADER POPULATION.
IN THIS CASE, AGAIN, AS WAS SEEN IN WASHINGTON, WHERE
MEMBERS OF QANON TURNED UP USING VIOLENT MEANS TO GAIN
ACCESS TO THE SCENE OF POWER. THAT WAS EXACTLY THE SIMILAR
TYPE OF PLAN THAT THE PLAN WAS TRENDING INJURY.
THEY WERE PLANNING TO USE WEAPONS FROM WHAT WE HEARD FROM
THE GERMAN ATTORNEY GENERAL. >> NIC ROBERTSON, A DEVELOPING
STORY FOR US, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.