BERLIN: German police on Monday arrested six men on suspicion of belonging to a far-right “terrorist” group that attacked foreigners in the city of Chemnitz.

The German nationals, aged 20 to 31, were taken into custody for allegedly forming a group called “Revolution Chemnitz” with the aim of subverting the democratic state.

“To this end, they intended to launch violent and armed attacks against foreigners and people who have different political views,” said federal prosecutors in a statement.

Their targets included representatives of different political parties as well as members of the economic establishment, the prosecutors said.

They added that the group appeared to have been planning an assault on Germany’s Unity Day, which falls on Wednesday.

The arrests once again cast an uncomfortable spotlight on extremism in Saxony state, where Chemnitz is located and which is a stronghold of the far-right party AfD.

Investigators are still trying to determine if the suspects were involved in the wave of xenophobic marches that swept Chemnitz at the end of August following a fatal stabbing, allegedly by an asylum seeker.

“Investigations show that the assault was a test-run for an event that one of the accused planned for October 3, 2018,” said prosecutors. Police are still investigating what exactly was being plotted.

More than 100 police officers were deployed to search apartments and other premises.

“With the arrests and raids, we are sending a clear signal that we are identifying and breaking up such right-wing terrorist structures early,” said Saxony interior minister Roland Woeller.

Germany’s Justice Minister Katarina Barley highlighted the suspects’ links to the football hooligan, skinhead and neo-Nazi scenes and warned that “the network under investigation does not stand in isolation.”

Saxony, a former communist state, has gained notoriety as the homebase of several extremist groups.

Eight members of a far-right outfit called the Freital group were jailed in March on terrorism and attempted murder charges for a series of explosions targeting refugees and anti-fascist activists.

Members of the neo-Nazi cell NSU, responsible for several racist killings, also evaded police for years in Chemnitz and another Saxony town, Zwickau.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2018