Self-proclaimed 'king of Germany' arrested in plot to overthrow government

The self-styled "king" of Germany and three of his senior "subjects" were arrested for attempting to overthrow the state, according to media reports. 

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. 

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The group's aim is to establish the Königreich Deutschland, or "Kingdom of Germany."

"I have no interest in being part of this fascist and satanic system," Fitzek previously told the news outlet in a 2022 interview.

Reichsbürgers reportedly have their own currency, flag and identification cards and want to set up separate banking and health systems.

The Reichsbürger undermined "the rule of law," said Alexander Dobrindt, Germany's interior minister, by creating an alternative state and spreading "antisemitic conspiracy narratives to back up their supposed claim to authority," the news report states. 

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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, dozens of people associated with the Reichsbürger were arrested for plotting to overthrow the German government in Berlin. They were accused of planning a violent coup, which included kidnapping the health minister in an effort to create "civil war conditions" to bring down German democracy, according to the BBC. 

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.