BERLIN (AP) — Three people have been wounded in an armed standoff in eastern Germany between police and members of a group that denies the legitimacy of the modern German state.
Police spokeswoman Ulrike Diener says the shootout happened while some 100 officers tried to enforce an eviction order Thursday against a 41-year-old “Reich citizen” in Reuden, about 20 kilometers south of Leipzig.
Members of the Reich Citizens’ Movement refuse to acknowledge the authority of the post-war Federal Republic of Germany and instead believe they are citizens of the German Reich. They have been compared to the U.S. sovereign citizen movement.
Diener said the 41-year-old was shot and seriously wounded. One officer received a minor neck injury, while another was bitten.
German media identified the evictee as former “Mr. Germany” Adrian Ursache.
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