German far-right arrests reveal multiple mosque attacks plot

Agence France-Presse in Berlin
Mon 17 Feb 2020 12.19 GMT
Last modified on Mon 17 Feb 2020 12.55 GMT

Members of a German far-right group arrested last week are believed to have been plotting “shocking” large-scale attacks on mosques similar to the ones carried out in New Zealand last year, a government spokesman has said.

Investigations into 12 men detained in police raids across Germany on Friday had indicated they planned major attacks, officials said, following weekend media reports that the group aimed to launch several simultaneous mass-casualty assaults on Muslims during prayer gatherings.

“It’s shocking what has been revealed here, that there are cells here that appear to have become radicalised in such a short space of time,” the interior ministry spokesman Björn Grünewälder told reporters at a Berlin press conference.

Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said: “It is the task of the state, and of course of this government, to protect free practice of religion in this country, with no reference to what religion it might be.

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