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Germany shootings: 'Far-right gunman' injures Bavaria police Germany shootings: 'Far-right gunman' injures Bavaria police
(about 2 hours later)
A 49-year-old man has been arrested after shooting four police officers in the southern state of Bavaria, German police say. A 49-year-old man has been arrested after wounding four police officers in the southern state of Bavaria, German police say.
The man opened fire after being asked to hand over his weapon, for which he had a permit, a police statement said. The man opened fire after being asked to hand over his weapons, for which his permit had been revoked.
Some of the officers were reported to have been seriously injured in the incident in the town of Georgensgmuend, just south of Nuremberg. One of the officers is said to have received life-threatening injuries in the incident in the town of Georgensgmuend, south of Nuremberg.
The man is said to belong to the far-right Reichsbuerger movement.The man is said to belong to the far-right Reichsbuerger movement.
Two police officers suffered gunshot wounds and the other two had unspecified injuries, said Germany's DPA news agency. He had previously refused on several occasions to co-operate with municipal officials concerned about his ownership of 31 weapons, officials told a news conference.
The Bavarian interior ministry said the man legally had some 30 weapons, but was not considered a "reliable" gun-owner. They requested the assistance of the police, who mounted an early-morning raid on the man's property.
He was lightly injured in the exchange. But he immediately began shooting at officers without opening the door. Two police officers suffered gunshot wounds and the other two had unspecified injuries, said Germany's DPA news agency.
The Reichsbuerger group does not recognise the authority of the post-war German republic and believes in the continued existence of the World War Two-era German empire, or Reich. The gunman was lightly injured in the exchange.
German authorities say they do not have current figures for the group's membership. Reichsbuerger movement
The Reichsbuerger ("Reich Citizens") group does not recognise the authority of the post-war German federal republic, seeing it merely as some sort of private company. It believes in the continued existence of a German empire, or Reich, dating back to 1937 or even earlier.
Its roots are said to go back some three decades.
Bavarian officials said the group's ideology was "nationalist and anti-Semitic.... clearly extreme right". Their circle had grown in recently years, they said, and included "whingers, nutcases, conspiracy theorists, but also the far-right".
The diversity of beliefs and views within the group militates against a simple hierarchical structure or clear leadership.
But the group should not be dismissed simply as an "association of crackpots", said Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann. Some of its members were obviously capable of brutal violence, particularly targeting representatives of the German state, he warned. Others use their rejection in the authority of the German state as grounds to refuse to pay taxes or creditors.