Young politician causes a stir with 'offensive shirt to the police'
Jette Nitsart, the federal spokesperson for the Grüne Jugend (Green Youth) organization, sparked widespread controversy in Germany after she posted a picture of herself on Instagram Stories wearing a jacket with the letters "ACAB," a well-known reference to the phrase "All cops are bastards." The design resembled the Adidas logo, and Nitsart was on her way to the Bundestag (German parliament) building.
This slogan has been controversial for years and raises legal questions about whether it falls under freedom of expression according to Article 5 of the German Constitution, or whether it constitutes an unjustified collective insult, similar to slogans like "soldiers are murderers."
The Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) ruled in 2016 that the slogan, despite being offensive, falls under freedom of speech. This ruling sparked widespread outrage at the time, with the head of the police union describing it as a "slap in the face" to police officers, emphasizing that this abbreviation is often used in contexts of violence against the police.
Jette Nitsart defended her position in a tweet she posted on Saturday, May 24, in which she referred to the constitutional court's decision and attached a picture from the H/T Defensio law firm website, stating that the ACAB slogan is currently used as part of a "critical discussion regarding police performance" and does not necessarily carry a derogatory connotation.
Nitsart sarcastically added that anyone wanting to verify the legality of the logo can simply search the internet, saying, "I always forget that some people don’t know how to use search engines, sorry."
Nevertheless, Nitzart faced a wave of severe criticism, even from within her party. Former politician Volker Beck wrote on the platform "X" that the slogan translates literally to "All police officers are pigs," considering that it may be legally protected but is "an expression of collective hatred against police officers" and "unacceptable from democratic politicians."