HUndertook “Reich citizens” are expected to attend a “Future Germany Congress” from Friday to Sunday in the small Swabian town of Wemding (Donau-Ries district). “No statement can currently be made about the willingness of the participants to use violence, but at such meetings the focus is often on the aspect of networking and ideological consolidation,” the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution told the dpa news agency in Munich on Friday. The “Augsburger Allgemeine” first reported on the planned meeting near the border with Baden-Württemberg.
“Reich citizens” are people who do not recognize the Federal Republic and its democratic structures. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution counted around 23,000 people across Germany in 2022 as part of the “Reich Citizens” and “self-administrators” scene, 2,000 more than in the previous year.
No legal basis for ban
According to local police, things remained “completely quiet” around the event on Friday. According to a spokeswoman, the district office, in consultation with the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, examined whether the meeting could be banned. However, this examination showed that there was no legal basis for a ban.
The city itself has announced a counter-demonstration for Saturday between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. – according to the police, around 100 participants have announced themselves for the counter-event. For security reasons, the demonstration will not take place in the immediate vicinity of the hotel as planned, but rather in a parking lot around three kilometers away.
According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the “Future Congress of Germany” is considered one of the largest meetings or seminars in the scene of so-called Reich citizens and self-administrators. The first two events of this kind took place in Thuringia in 2022 and 2023, and there were “participants in the lower three-digit range in each case”. It can therefore be assumed that “a similar number of people will take part” in Wemding.
“Paths into the German Reich” as the topic
The events served to network members of the scene with one another. In addition, it is always about recruiting new members. “Last but not least, it must be assumed that monetary goals are also pursued through the implementation of such events and the workshops etc.,” said the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
Announcement videos for the event circulated on the Internet, in which, among other things, “Paths into the German Reich” was mentioned as a topic. A speaker announced as a speaker spoke of the fact that Germany was still occupied by Americans and Poles. According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, there were more than 500 people in a group for interested parties and participants in the event on the social network Telegram.
“There are currently no concrete indications that the security situation could be affected by the event,” said a police spokesman. “The police are not aware of any incidents at similar events in the past in which the regional security situation was affected by such meetings.”
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