Germany news: Police raid chapters of Gremium MC biker gang

Hundreds of police officers searched apartments and meeting sites for the biker group “Gremium MC” in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg early on Thursday.

The state interior ministry said the operation was part of a move to outlaw three sub-chapters of the group, the ones based in Böblingen and Leonberg, as well as the “Gremium MC Chapter Nomads Bosphorus Türkiye.”

This last group was highlighted as a meaningful part of Gremium MC by security officials. It describes itself on Facebook as a great example that “people of different cultures and faiths can be strong together,” featuring images of men posing with knives and other weapons.

Gremium MC prominently incorporates into its iconography the symbol of the Prussian military medal for exceptional valor, the Iron Cross, which was discontinued after World War I, reintroduced by Adolf Hitler during World War II, and then scrapped for good.

State Interior Minister Manuel Hagel was expected to make further comments later in the day in Ludwigsburg.

Gremium MC is deemed an “outlaw motorcycle gang” in Baden-Württemberg’s latest security report, a term used for biker groups that do not recognize the state monopoly on the use of force and are often tied to organized crime.

“Extortion, drug dealing and pimping in particular tend to be part of their activities,” state authorities say.

Baden-Württemberg counts 154 biker chapters in the state with around 2,000 members.

Founded in 1972 in Mannheim, various chapters of Gremium MC across the country have faced legal issues in recent years. In 2021, another chapter in the southwest, Gremium MC Southgate in Heidelberg, was outlawed on suspicion of organized crime activity.