BERLIN, April 14 (Reuters) - German health minister Karl Lauterbach said a foiled plot to kidnap him showed that there were forces at play that were using protests against COVID-19 restrictions to destabilise the state and the country's democratic system.
Prosecutors said earlier on Thursday they had detained four people suspected of plotting to kidnap the minister and destroy power facilities to cause a nationwide power outage.
The suspects were affiliated with groups that protested against COVID-19 restrictions, and with the far-right “Reichsbuerger” movement, which denies the existence of the modern German state, the prosecutor’s office in the western city of Koblenz said in a statement. Germany’s vaccination campaign is faltering with around 76.6% of the population having received at least one dose – less than in other western European countries such as Italy or Spain, where the figures are well above 80%.
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