Germany’s Greens exclude mayor over racist comments

BERLIN (AFP): Germany’s Greens on Saturday voted to exclude from the party the mayor of the southwestern town of Tuebingen over racist remarks he made on social media about a black soccer player.

Members of the party in Baden-Wurtemberg overwhelmingly voted to remove Boris Palmer, who has often been criticized over his comments about immigrants and minorities.

 In a posting Thursday on Facebook, Palmer called former German player Dennis Aogo a “bad racist” and used a racial slur.

His comments were met with outrage by members of his party, which is leading in the polls ahead of the September elections.

“The comments by Boris Palmer are racist and repulsive,” Annalena Baerbock, the Green’s candidate for chancellor, wrote on Twitter.

She also rejected Palmer’s claim that he was being ironic and said he had lost the party’s backing.

“This adds to repeated provocations which exclude and hurt people,” she said.

Winfried Kretschmann, minister-president of Baden-Wurtemberg, said it was simply unacceptable for Palmer to make such comments.

“It is undignified for a mayor to constantly incite outrage with provocations,” he said.

Palmer early on in the pandemic had also raised eyebrows after saying that most people who had died from Covid-19 would have passed away in any case within months.

Aogo himself was embroiled in controversy earlier this week and quit his role as a consultant on Sky television after saying players for Cityzens “train to the point of gassing”.

He was also embroiled just days ago in a racism controversy with former Arsenal and Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

Lehmann was dismissed from the supervisory board of Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin after making a jibe about the TV pundit’s race via WhatsApp.