Dispute over Jette Nietzard: Now a Kreuzberg Green attacks Winfried Kretschmann

The dispute within the Green Party over the controversial statements made by the head of the Green Youth, Jette Nietzard, continues. Antje Kapek, former parliamentary group leader of the Green Party in Berlin, has now spoken out. She defends Nietzard and directly attacks Baden-Württemberg's Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann, who had suggested that Nietzard leave the party.

In a post on the short message service X, Kapek accuses the state leader of acting as "thought police." To do so, she writes, "perhaps he needs to adjust his own compass first."

In her X-post, Kapek draws a connection to Kretschmann's support for Boris Palmer. Specifically, she accuses the only Green Party government leader of having tolerated "repeated racist statements for years" by Palmer, the mayor of Tübingen and their former party colleague.

Green Youth leader Nietzard has been under pressure for days, both within and outside the party, because she wore a sweater with the words ACAB ("All cops are bastards") and a cap with the words "Eat the rich" in a self-made video. She later expressed regret for her Instagram post. "I don't think that was the right way to draw attention to the problems," she said.

Green Party dispute: Nietzard's "apology through the back door"

Nietzard was not impressed by Winfried Kretschmann and many other Greens with this "backdoor apology," as many call it. He appealed to Nietzard and others who had similar thoughts: "Pick the right party and just leave us. We are not the right address for the kind of attitude you have." He clearly meant the Left Party.

His designated successor as the Green Party's top candidate in Baden-Württemberg, former Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir, also sharply criticized Nietzard for her clothing and the apparent attitude behind it. "The police defend the values ​​that define us as a party with the utmost personal commitment every day. Anyone who doesn't understand that is in the wrong place," Özdemir wrote on X. "The problem with these constant transgressions by individuals is that it creates the impression that they have something to do with the Greens."

Berlin Greens escalate dispute over youth leader

Kapek's rebuttal isn't the only pro-Nietzard statement from Berlin, by the way. Katrin Schmidberger, a member of the House of Representatives like Kapek and from the traditionally left-wing and equally traditionally strong Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district association, also made a similar statement on the same news service. "Who are you to decide who has to leave the party?" Schmidberger wrote. And: "I'm truly appalled and wonder who is really acting childishly here." With their public criticism, Kretschmann and Özdemir are "serving right-wing narratives," the Green Party politician continued.

Previously, Berlin co-party leader Nina Stahr from Steglitz-Zehlendorf had criticized Nietzard via Instagram. She was "always skeptical of generalizations – and with ACAB, I know it's not true," Stahr said. She did not write about the Green Youth leader's departure from the party.