German police carried out raids across four federal states on the morning of 3 November, targeting a suspected far-left militant network known as the "Kollektiv Zwickau." According to BILD, the Saxon state criminal police office's LinX task force led the operation, and prosecutors in Dresden are investigating on suspicion of forming a criminal organization. Roughly 20 residences were searched.
The twelve suspects range in age from 18 to 37. BILD reports that the group is described as Marxist-Leninist and that its members are alleged to have carried out attacks on political opponents over recent years in varying combinations, including one incident involving batons and pepper spray.
Why it matters
The case touches on how German authorities handle organized political violence from the far left, a category that has drawn increased attention from state security services. The raids were coordinated across Saxony, Thuringia, Leipzig, Bremen, Hamburg and Dresden, according to BILD, suggesting investigators view the network as spread beyond its home region. The group's name references Zwickau because most of the suspects live in or come from the area, BILD reports.
Saxony's domestic intelligence agency, the Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz, classifies the group within the dogmatic far-left spectrum. According to BILD, the agency identifies hammer and sickle imagery as the group's trademark, along with the red Soviet star. Its greeting is "Rot Front," accompanied by a raised fist.
Alleged offenses and stated aims
BILD reports that the group is suspected of dangerous bodily harm, robbery and serious breach of the peace. Citing its own information, the paper says the network's stated goal is to act against right-wing extremists and to build the base for a communist party.
Saxony's LKA spokesman Kay Anders confirmed the searches to BILD, saying the background was a large-scale investigation. The state's 2025 domestic intelligence report, on page 195, noted that the "Kollektiv Zwickau" had recently stopped making "publicly effective appearances." The intelligence service suggested a first police raid in February 2025 may explain that quiet period. According to BILD, the agency also has indications that the group may aim to replace Germany's free democratic basic order through a revolution involving violence, in favor of a communist social order.
The group maintains a public presence on Instagram, where it has called for "Freiheit für Maja" — freedom for Maja — referring to the non-binary activist from the Hammerbande scene convicted in Hungary of a brutal assault and sentenced to seven years, whom the collective describes as a "comrade." Coverage of the raids also appeared in regional outlets including buten un binnen, Spiegel, MOPO and MDR, which reported searches in multiple states and, in Hamburg's case, twelve men under scrutiny.
What happens next depends on what investigators find in the seized material; prosecutors in Dresden will decide whether the suspicion of a criminal organization holds up against the twelve accused.
