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Before the Reichstag at the end of August 2020
Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
Internal searches by the Berlin police have surfaced in right-wing extremist chats on the Telegram messenger service.
This suggests that the confidential information was passed on from among the police.
Because so far the information is only available within the internal network of the Berlin police.
A police spokeswoman confirmed this to SPIEGEL.
"Yes, someone from the Berlin police must have leaked it," she said.
The information is an internal search for those involved in the siege of the stairs of the Reichstag building in August 2020. At that time, supporters of conspiracy myths and from the right-wing extremist scene tried to get into the Reichstag building on the sidelines of a demonstration against corona measures.
The mob came up to the stairs, where the police stopped the group.
Eventually she was pushed back by security forces.
So far, the Berlin police have investigated 40 suspects, but another 400 people are being sought internally.
The details of the search were now transferred to a neo-Nazi chat on Telegram and from there to other chats related to the "lateral thinking" scene.
The Telegram group calls itself "Security Advice for Nationalists" and gives right-wing extremists tips on how to protect themselves from surveillance by security authorities and secret services.
SPIEGEL was able to see the news in the group.
An anti-fascist group had pointed out the data leak on Twitter.
The editorial network Germany (RND) had reported about it first.
The message reports on an "investigation group (EG) Quer" and photos that have been published on the people sought.
The search is initially "internal to the police," warns the author - and gives tips to those reading along: "To be on the safe side, everyone involved should 'clean up' their apartments in order to keep any chance finds as low as possible."
"Very unlikely" to find the mole
According to the Berlin police, the photos of the wanted suspects have been fed into the internal system since the beginning of last week.
The last search calls were therefore uploaded on Saturday.
It is unclear who is behind the leak, said the spokeswoman.
More than 20,000 police officers from Berlin have access to the internal search calls.
It is "very unlikely" to find the mole.
However, the responsible investigation group "Quer" had been informed about the alleged data leak.
It is still unclear whether a suspicion of betrayal will be investigated.
Specifically, the Berlin police are investigating more than 30 proceedings so far because of the storm on the Reichstag stairs.
According to the police, more than half of them are for breach of the peace.
The suspects are also accused of freeing prisoners, using symbols of unconstitutional organizations, particularly serious breach of the peace, resistance to law enforcement officers, threats, insults and violations of the Assembly Act.
During the action of August 29, 2020, several hundred demonstrators, many of them from the scene of the so-called Reich Citizens, ran up the stairs of the Reichstag building with flags and sometimes with shouts, where only a few police officers were standing.
A possible storm on the parliament building had been discussed on Telegram in advance of the demonstration.
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