State premier: Suspected Reichsbürger police in Saxony
November 6, 2016
There are three police officers in the German state of Saxony with "possible connections to the Reichsbürger" movement, State Premier Stanislaw Tillich told the "Funke Mediengruppe" on Sunday.
The Reichsbürger movement rejects the authority of the German Federal Republic, and therefore its laws, borders and institutions. Instead, they believe in the existence of German Reich and its 1937 borders.
The anti-government movement of several hundreds of people has gained greater attention since October, when a member wounded three police officers and killed another in a shootout in Bavaria.
The incident led authorities to renew their focus on possible members of the loosely organized group in the state bureaucracy and police force. Already, several police officers in a number of states are under investigation and face disciplinary action.
Police officers and state officials in Germany must take an oath to protect the constitution. Reichsbürger ideology and practices are against the constitution.
Tillich said that if the suspicion about the three police officers' ties to the Reichsbürger movement were verified then there would be "serious consequences."
cw/jlw (AFP, dpa)