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Nine men and women went on trial in Frankfurt on Tuesday accused of plotting to overthrow the German government, in a sensational case that has revealed how deeply QAnon conspiracy theories have penetrated the world of the German far-right.

The suspects, who were arrested in December 2022, stand accused of belonging to, or supporting, a terrorist organisation that planned to attack the German parliament, detain MPs and do away with the country’s postwar political order. They face 10 to 15 years in prison if found guilty.

Prosecutors have identified the ringleaders as Heinrich XIII Prinz Reuss, a real estate broker and scion of an aristocratic family, and Rüdiger von Pescatore, a former lieutenant colonel and paratrooper commander. The group also includes a former MP from the far-right Alternative for Germany party, ex-judge Birgit Malsack-Winkemann.

Prosecutor Tobias Engelstetter spent most of the first day of the trial reading out the 617-page indictment, detailing a conspiracy that seemed so outlandish at times it drew gasps of astonishment from the public gallery.

Prosecutors said the conspirators shared a “profound rejection” of the country’s liberal democratic system, believed deeply in the QAnon conspiracy and shared the views of the “Reichsbürger” movement, which does not recognise Germany’s postwar order.

Engelstetter presented the plotters’ worldview as being built around the idea that Germany is controlled by members of a “deep state”, which runs a series of “underground military bases”. Here children are abused, killed and their bodies used to produce a special rejuvenating elixir.

According to this theory, the deep state is opposed by a secret association known as the Alliance, which brings together the armies, governments and intelligence services of various states, including the US and Russia, that have promised to liberate Germany.

The plotters, so prosecutors said, expected the Alliance to give a signal to presage “Day X”, which would in turn act as the trigger for the Reuss group to launch their coup. Some of them believed the death of Queen Elizabeth in the UK in September 2022 was just such a signal.

They had allegedly formed a council and a military arm ready to take power once the current regime was removed from power, and had built up a €500,000 war chest and a huge firearms arsenal.

The suspects were aware, prosecutors said, that their attempt to seize power would “involve killing people”, and had drawn up lists of “enemies” that would be arrested, and likely killed, after the coup.

The plotters had, according to prosecutors, already decided on roles in the government they planned to set up after the power grab, with Prinz Reuss tapped to serve as head of state and Malsack-Winkemann to run the justice ministry.

One of the more bizarre parts of the indictment concerned the relationship of the alleged plotters with two brothers in Switzerland. Identified as Sandro and Claudio R, the siblings were paid huge sums of money to provide the group with illegal weapons, prosecutors said. The brothers were also supposed to help the conspirators find the entrance to the “deep underground military bases”, so the children allegedly held there could be freed. They did neither.

The case, which is being heard under tight security in an annex of Frankfurt’s higher regional court, has shone a spotlight on the Reichsbürger, an extremist movement whose members believe the German Reich of 1871-1945 still exists. They do not recognise the laws and institutions of postwar Germany, issue their own passports and stamps and refuse to pay fines issued by local authorities.

Long dismissed by ordinary Germans as a bunch of harmless eccentrics, the Reichsbürger is estimated to have about 23,000 members and, according to Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, exhibits a “high affinity” for weapons. 

In a sign of the size and complexity of the case, different trials are being held in Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Munich.

A trial against the alleged military wing of the Reuss group started in Stuttgart in late April and includes several former senior officers in the German armed forces. One of the suspects on trial in Stuttgart is accused of having shot and wounded police carrying out a search of his apartment in March 2023 and faces an additional charge of attempted murder.

Proceedings against less prominent alleged members will start in Munich on June 18. 

TAMPA, FLA. (WSVN) – Six adults and 23 teens were arrested after a huge riot erupted in a Tampa parking lot.

Police said it happened on Saturday outside of a roller-skating rink after a planned after-party was canceled by Astro Skate because the host group did not hire an off-duty deputy for security, which the business requires.

Among the unruly crowd, one teen was seen kicking a man through the window of a barber shop.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office released body camera footage showing the chaos. Deputies said the person injured at the barber shop was taken to the hospital with a severe cut on his hand.

“They ran in and attacked me bro, the outside and they just came in and attacked me,” said the victim.

A nearby 7-Eleven reported about $500 worth of damage, just one of the many business that were ruined during the havoc.

According to investigators, law enforcement warned the crowd to leave the area multiple times, but they did not comply.

“Give me your arm. Give me your arm. ‘What you’re trying to hold me? I ain’t got nothing’, ” was the exchange between an officer and a young man he was detaining.

Deputies said they’re trying to determine who started the riot through online posts and whether other individuals can be identified and charged.

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Iran has begun a three-day funeral procession for late president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash at the weekend, as the country’s leaders sought to project stability following the disaster.

Large crowds gathered as the procession started on Tuesday in the north-western city of Tabriz, the largest city near the site of the crash, which took place in a remote and mountainous region where rescue teams took about 20 hours to find Raisi’s body.

Also among the eight victims was the country’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian.

Raisi’s body will be transported from Tabriz to the holy city of Qom, the base for senior Shia Muslim clergy, on Tuesday, before being taken to Tehran. The government has declared a public holiday on Wednesday for the ceremony in the capital. 

“Iran will create another historic epic in the funeral,” said Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi on Tuesday. “There will be no disruption in the country’s affairs with the martyrdom of the revered president.” 

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will lead the religious ceremony in Tehran on Wednesday before Raisi’s body is taken to his home area, the Khorassan region in the north-east.

The late president will then be buried on Thursday in the holy city of Mashhad, where the eighth Imam of Shia Muslims, Reza, is interred — the largest pilgrimage destination in the country.

In keeping with Iran’s constitution, Khamenei has appointed first vice-president Mohammad Mokhber as the head of the executive branch until elections are held on June 28.

Presidential candidates will begin registering next Tuesday, and those who pass the strict vetting process will be allowed to campaign for two weeks before polling day.

Mokhber’s major decisions will be made in co-ordination with the heads of parliament and the judiciary until a new president is elected. The judiciary has warned Iranians that any “spread of lies” or “insults” about Raisi and his death will be dealt with severely. 

Meanwhile, the new Assembly of Experts, which will be responsible for appointing the next leader when Khamenei dies, held a previously scheduled meeting on Tuesday.

Raisi — elected one more time for the assembly in the March election — was considered a strong candidate to become the assembly’s new head and potentially the next supreme leader.

The clerical members elected Mohammad-Ali Movahedi Kermani, a senior conservative cleric, as the body’s new head for the next two years.

The death of Raisi, 63, has come at a difficult time for Iran. The economy is struggling in the face of US sanctions, while the country is part of heightened tensions in the Middle East. A years-long shadow war between Iran and Israel has burst into the open following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.