Posters at Dissent Café and Bar were seized under laws that made it an offence to publicly display a prohibited Nazi symbol. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
ACT Policing will not prosecute the owner of a Civic bar after seizing “antifascist” posters from its front window last week.
Officers attended Dissent Café and Bar on City Walk on Wednesday, 18 February, and asked the owner to hand over posters featuring prohibited symbols “for assessment”.
The owner declined, and seven posters were seized under Commonwealth powers.
Police have now confirmed the matter is over.
“Following assessment, it has been determined that while the posters satisfied certain aspects of the legislation, other aspects were not met. As such, criminal proceedings will not occur,” ACT Policing said in a statement on Wednesday (25 February).
“The posters will be returned to the owner in due course and this matter finalised.”
The posters depicted US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in Nazi uniforms. Photo: Dissent Café and Bar.
The case had been seen as an early test of the Commonwealth’s Combating Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Act 2026, introduced after the Bondi shootings.
The law makes it an offence to publicly display a prohibited Nazi symbol, but includes exceptions for religious, academic, educational and artistic purposes.
The seized posters depicted global political figures, including Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, Nigel Farage, JD Vance, Vladimir Putin and Elon Musk in Nazi uniforms under the heading “The Turd Reich”.
Bar owner David Howe has described the display as antifascist.
“Absolutely, that is the intent, and anybody who would see these posters would recognise that,” he said previously.
Canberra criminal lawyer Asfandyar (Ash) Shaffi earlier suggested police could face difficulty proving the case, pointing to exceptions in both Commonwealth and ACT law.
“Satire in effect is art. It’s a form of art,” he said.
Dissent Café and Bar owner David Howe. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
Independent MLA Thomas Emerson – who previously criticised the police action – said Canberrans would be relieved by the decision, but added “many questions remain unanswered”.
“Unsurprisingly, ACT Policing has determined that displaying satirical and antifascist posters is not a crime,” he said.
“It’s ridiculous that five officers were diverted from other work to close Dissent Café and Bar and remove these posters.”
He questioned whether compensation would be provided to the venue and a touring band whose gig was cancelled, and asked: “Where is the apology?”
“If taking this kind of heavy-handed action before determining the legality of the materials in question is how the Commonwealth legislation is supposed to function, Canberrans have made it patently clear that these laws don’t meet our expectations and need to be changed,” he said.
ACT Policing said it “remains committed to ensuring that alleged antisemitic, racist and hate incidents are addressed promptly and thoroughly” and would not hesitate to act where criminality is identified.
