Police Unions Sue Leftist Newspaper for Hate Speech --In Germany

TAZ is a leftist German newspaper born in radical leftist cells in the 1960s. TAZ is published in German and in English; its paywall is virtually impenetrable. Its articles are “in your face,” designed to provoke and anger the reader. TAZ stirred up a hornets’ nest with its June 15 article: “Getting rid of the police – All Cops are Berufsunfaehig (unsuited to any job).” After considering alternative employment opportunities for former cops, TAZ concludes they should be deposited in the nearest garbage dump.


TAZ’s solution to “defund the police” is milder than “kill all cops” chants heard in US cities, but it riled Germany’s police unions, DPolG and GdP. They filed charges against the TAZ article as Volksverhetzung (Public incitement). The Union characterized the article as a “punch in the face.” Declared a police-union leader: “How hate-filled and degenerate and ready for violence must someone be in order to write such disgusting ideas.”


The charges of Germany’s police unions have some prospects of punishing TAZ. Germany has laws against Hassrede (hate speech) and Beamtenbeleidigung (insult of a civil servant). Showing the middle finger to a traffic cop can mean a four thousand Euro fine. It remains to be seen how much a figurative “punch in the face” to the police should cost.