BERLIN

German police raided the home of a 45-year-old healthcare worker at dawn after he criticized civil servants as "parasites" on social media, sparking concerns about freedom of expression in the country.

The man, identified only as M. due to German privacy laws, posted a message on Sept. 29 on the US social media platform X, criticizing the country's tax system and those financed by the state.

“No, anyone who is financed by the state pays no net taxes; they live off taxes. Every civil servant, every politician, every employee in a state-owned enterprise, anyone who is subsidized and financed by the state. Not a single parasite pays any net taxes.” he wrote in his post.

On Nov. 13, two police officers arrived at his home in Baden-Wurttemberg state at 6 am in an unmarked station wagon, German daily Die Welt reported. They presented a search warrant issued on suspicion of "incitement to hatred," a crime under German law.

The social media user said the officers gave him a choice: hand over his phone and PIN code, or they would search his entire apartment. He complied and was taken to a police station in Goppingen.

At the police station, officers took his fingerprints and photographed him. "I had to bare my upper body so that a scar from an appendix operation could also be photographed," he told the newspaper. Officers also requested a blood sample for DNA analysis, which he refused. The sample was not taken.

Marcus Pretzell, his lawyer, called the police actions "absurd and illegal" and said he has not yet been granted access to view the case file.

Neither the court nor prosecutors explained the basis for the "incitement to hatred" charge. Authorities declined to confirm the exact wording of the allegedly inflammatory statement, citing the ongoing investigation.

The man maintains he was accused because of the word "parasite" in his post. Local media reports suggested prosecutors may have acted because the Nazis used "parasites" to vilify Jews, though the man rejects any connection to neo-Nazis. "I despise violence. I despise extremism. I despise National Socialism, Socialism and Communism," he told Die Welt.