22 SAVVA TERENTYEV v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT concentration camps and to the Nazis’ killing practices as an example to be followed is particularly striking. Arguably, in particular, Holocaust survivors and especially those who escaped Auschwitz might be offended by such a statement. In the latter connection, the Court observes, however, that the protection of the rights of Holocaust survivors was never put forward by the domestic courts among the reasons for the applicant’s conviction. Moreover, the text in question does not reveal – and it has never been held otherwise by the domestic courts, nor has it been argued by the Government – any intention to praise or justify the Nazis’ practices used at Auschwitz. The Court has previously held that a reference to the Auschwitz concentration camps and the Holocaust alone is insufficient to justify an interference with a freedom of expression, and that its impact on the rights of others should be assessed with due regard to the historical and social context in which that statement was made (see, for that approach, Annen v. Germany, no. 3690/10, § 63, 26 November 2015). In the present case, however, no arguments were advanced either by the national courts or by the Government, which would reveal the reasons for which Russian police officers could have considered themselves affected by such a reference. 74. More generally, recourse to the notion of annihilation by fire, in itself, cannot be regarded as incitement to any unlawful action, including violence, either. The Court has previously accepted that symbolic acts of this kind can be understood as an expression of dissatisfaction and protest rather than a call to violence (see Christian Democratic People’s Party v. Moldova (no. 2), no. 25196/04, § 27, 2 February 2010, in which a flag and a picture of a State leader were burnt, and Stern Taulats and Roura Capellera v. Spain, nos. 51168/15 and 51186/15, § 39, 13 March 2018, concerning the burning of a photograph of the Spanish royal couple). The Court has observed in paragraph 72 above that in the present case the applicant’s reference to “[ceremonial]” incineration of “infidel cops” can be regarded as a provocative metaphor, a symbol of “cleansing” of the police of corrupt officers, rather than an actual call to violence. As noted in paragraph 68 above, Article 10 protects not only the substance of the ideas and information expressed, but also the form in which they are conveyed. 75. It is furthermore of relevance that the applicant’s remarks did not attack personally any identifiable police officers but rather concerned the police as a public institution. The Court reiterates that civil servants acting in an official capacity are subject to wider limits of acceptable criticism than ordinary citizens (see Mamère v. France, no. 12697/03, § 27, ECHR 2006-XIII), even more so when such criticism concerns a whole public institution. A certain degree of immoderation may fall within those limits, particularly where it involves a reaction to what is perceived as unjustified or unlawful conduct of civil servants. 76. The Court further considers that the police, a law-enforcement public agency, can hardly be described as an unprotected minority or group that