this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2026
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Police have seized art posters from a Canberra music venue and bar that depict world leaders and others, including Donald Trump and Elon Musk, wearing Nazi uniforms, and are investigating whether new federal hate symbol laws were broken.

David Howe, the owner of Dissent Cafe and Bar in Canberra’s CBD, said his venue was shut down for about two hours on Wednesday night as police investigated a complaint about hate imagery relating to five posters in the window.

“I think it’s ludicrous to be perfectly honest,” he told Guardian Australia, describing the works as an “anti-fascist statement” and noting the shut down had caused the cancellation of an interstate band’s performance.

By Thursday afternoon, less than 24 hours later, the posters were placed back in the windows, with the contents covered with the word “CENSORED” in red. Howe said he hoped patrons appreciated their return, describing them “absolutely” as protest art.

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[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 14 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Cops aren't just bastards, they're often dumb as bricks. No surprise they don't know the difference between "content criticising Nazism" and "content praising Nazism".

[–] MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com 9 points 13 hours ago

Sometimes it's not that they're too dumb not to understand, it's that they understand but no one will stop them from enforcing however they deem fit. If they support these fascists (cops, so it's likely) then they'll happily apply this to clearly anti Nazi stuff and give a free pass to actually hateful things aimed at minorities since those are clearly artistic. Cops doing cop stuff.

[–] manxu@piefed.social 19 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

I get that police would investigate: go to the venue, look at the posters, if they glorify Nazis or the ideology, take them down and arrest everyone.

But that seemed like an obvious statement against Nazis and politicians the behave like them, I guess it was good publicity, anyway.

[–] TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip 4 points 6 hours ago

That would require the police to have the mental capacity to understand nuance

[–] gressen@lemmy.zip 13 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Does anyone have pics of said posters? For science.

[–] slothrop@lemmy.ca 41 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (2 children)
[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Wow, the judge is going to laugh the cops out of court.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 5 points 13 hours ago

I don't think you get how that relationship works. At best you'll get a "tut tut, be less obvious"

[–] SteevyT@beehaw.org 0 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

The trump and Nyetnu (fuck it, I ain't double checking spelling) posters are obviously satire, but I could see an argument that someone might be confused on the other three if there wasn't the obvious context of everything else going on around them.

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 7 points 13 hours ago

Is it satire, though? These ghouls are actually nazis, after all.

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

You can't leave us hanging by not sharing the posters! At least the article doesnt't show them, not on direct link.

[–] Toes@ani.social 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Someone posted them in the comments 🎁

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 8 hours ago

Oh that's nice! I had not noticed them before, thanks!

[–] Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone -4 points 16 hours ago (2 children)
[–] DavidDoesLemmy@aussie.zone 10 points 13 hours ago

Our first amendment changed the starting date of senators' terms (from January to July) to better align with elections.

How does that apply here?

[–] echolalia@lemmy.ml 11 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

This happened in Australia

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 0 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, the colonial monarchist petrostate.

[–] echolalia@lemmy.ml 4 points 12 hours ago

While your statement is true, I was only pointing out they don't have the first amendment.

(Yes, it is bad the police seized this stuff)