More than 3000 officers took part in early morning raids.

Let's go live to Berlin, we can speak to our correspondent Damien Mcguinness.

Great to have you with us, Damian, this is quite an exceptional story.

Talk our viewers through what we know so far.

Yeah, well, this is the largest anti terror raid Germany has ever known nulla.

So what we're talking about 3000 officers nationwide, dozens of raids, including in army barracks.

And that's because this is a far right group known as rice burger and literally translated citizens of the Reich and what they believe in.

They don't they want to undermine the modern german state.

They want to overthrow the government and they want to found a state based on the german empire or from 18 71.

Now, this is a very fringe movement, potentially very violent movement, and that's why officers are taking this so seriously because some of the people involved in this movement, some of the people arrested.

The 25 people arrested were former officers, former soldiers.

One of them was a former member of the national parliament here in Berlin.

She was working as a judge until she was arrested.

There was also a minor aristocrat who was thought to be the ringleader of this.

This this movement has some quite high profile figures, some of whom are armed, some of whom have access to weapons and that's why it's being taken incredibly seriously or there also has to be said that there aren't any indications that this plan would have been successful.

This is a very radical group, but also very fringe group.

They've been going for decades since the 80s.

And even though there aren't and even there are outbreaks of violence regularly, they're not seen as an imminent threat to the german state in the sense that this is something where there have been any injuries so far in this particular plot or anyone died in this plot.

But it's being taken seriously enough to show really that a nationwide raids have been merited.

And we've seen dozens of arrests so far and more likely to.

It's so interesting.

I'm sure people Damien will start pointing out parallels that they may see with the United States.

If we think of some of the more far right groups, particularly in the aftermath of the january 6th attack on the US capitol.

I mean, is there is online a big part of this group, are they very well known what they're, I don't know, membership or motives are Yes, it is interesting.

There are links to the U.

S.

Conspiracy movement.

Cure non this though, this movement, the Iceberg movement, the Citizens of the Vice movement goes back to the eighties.

So this this has been going for decades.

We have times in Germany where they seem to be more active.

Other times when they seem to be less active.

What we've seen over the last few years and particularly during the pandemic is that all sorts of different groups, very disparate groups, including anti vax as covid denies far right extremists all coalescing around this guy's burger movement in a way really to say that the german state is not legitimate.

And I think there are links to the US this idea of a deep state.

What the people of this movement talk about.

They say that Germany isn't a real country.

Modern Germany is in fact a company, a firm they call it, that's run by the U.

S.

Or by the allies.

And they say that the real Germany is the one that was before the First World War and that's what they want to get back to.

They don't recognize the german state, these people refuse to pay taxes regularly.

You have shootouts with police in houses in some parts of Germany.

So this is something that does and flow.

But I think the fact that there's been so much going on in the US connected to certain conspiracy theories and particularly linked to the pandemic and, you know, a small but radical movement within Germany of people who say that the vaccine is the problem and not covid itself.

And even though these groups are very small and very fringe, some of them are quite radical.

And what we're seeing according to police today.

And certainly according to what we've seen over the last few years, is that some of these people are prepared to use violence to do what they think is the right thing, which they believe they want to overthrow the german state.

They just don't believe the legitimacy of modern Germany.

That's why they're seen as such a danger.

Damian, thank you so much for giving us that analysis and understanding, really of what's happening in Germany.