SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert has criticized the Bavarian government for the large number of so-called “Reich citizens” in the Free State.
“The state government has to put up with the question of how Bavaria could become the number one Reich citizen biotope in Germany,” he told the newspapers of the Bayern media group.
In the last half-yearly report by the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, “Reich citizens” were only mentioned in connection with the founding of schools and information events, but not as armed bearers who were sometimes prepared to use violence. This is significant, said Kühnert.
At the end of September, around 5,200 people in Bavaria were assigned to the so-called “Reichsbürger” scene – this means that almost a quarter of all “Reichsbürger” known nationwide lives in Bavaria. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, 23,000 people across Germany see themselves as “Reich citizens” – they do not recognize the Federal Republic and its democratic structures.
Reich citizen at the Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Recently it became known that the Bavarian police and the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution also employ officials who are assigned to the so-called movement. According to the Interior Ministry in Munich, a total of 13 civil servants and 3 employees are known who work for the Free State and have connections to the “Reich Citizens” scene. “16 state employees who are enemies of the constitution are just the tip of an iceberg of thousands,” said Kühnert.
CSU General Secretary Martin Huber rejected Kühnert’s criticism. “Nowhere is action taken against Reich citizens as consistently as in Bavaria,” said Huber.
