Searches in four states
Police searched flats in Saxony, Thuringia, Hamburg and Bremen on Tuesday, 3 November, in a probe into suspected left-wing extremists. The Dresden public prosecutor's office and the Saxon state criminal investigation office (LKA) said the searches covered flats in Zwickau, Dresden, Leipzig, Saalfeld, Bremen and Hamburg, with the main focus in Zwickau. Searches have been running since the morning. Twelve men aged 18 to 36 are suspected of forming a criminal association in 2022 called "Kollektiv Zwickau", which the authorities describe as a political communist group. According to investigators, the men agreed over years to push their aims through crimes, including bodily harm and property damage, against right-wing extremist structures in the region and beyond.
- Twelve men allegedly join to form the group in Zwickau
- A house search of members is reported to have taken place
- Searches begin in four states and five people are arrested
Arrests and warrants
Five suspects were arrested. Four men aged 22 to 36 were taken into custody on existing arrest warrants. A fifth man, aged 20, was provisionally arrested after he allegedly attacked a police officer during a search. Officials said all five were to be brought before an investigating judge on the same day. The LKA spokesman had not given further details on the identities of the suspects.
A group that presents itself publicly
The Saxon domestic intelligence service (Verfassungsschutz) last assigned about 15 people to the group, which it says belongs to the nationally active Rote Jugend Deutschland. The service describes it as a communist, Marxist-Leninist association that shows its allegiance through communist symbols and greetings and rejects parliamentary democracy. The group presents itself openly, including through an Instagram account that offers tips on how to act during a police house search. A similar house search of members is reported to have taken place in 2025.
Separate search in Leipzig
In a separate operation, federal police said about 60 officers took part in searches of three flats in Leipzig. The investigation targets four Syrian nationals, women and men, aged 20 to 37, on suspicion of people smuggling and misuse of identity papers. They are alleged to have made their German residence documents available to other Syrian nationals so that those people could travel unlawfully from Syria to Germany.
Evidence and next steps
The searches aim to secure evidence such as data storage devices and mobile phones. The probe is run by the Dresden prosecutor's office and the Police Terrorism and Extremism Defence Centre of the Saxon LKA, and the LKA said the Soko LinX, the unit responsible for left-wing extremist crimes, is in charge. A spokesman confirmed to SPIEGEL that Soko Linx is responsible, which points to a left-wing extremist background. The LKA said it would release further information later on 3 November.