German Greens slam party’s own mayor over racist language

BERLIN — Leaders of Germany’s Greens on Saturday slammed the mayor of Tuebingen, a member of their own party, for using a racist slur in a social media post about a black soccer player.

Boris Palmer, who has regularly irked fellow members of the centre-left party with his comments about migrants and minorities, had used the racist term in reference to former Germany player Dennis Aogo.

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

She said Palmer’s repeated “provocations, which exclude and hurt people,” meant he had lost the party’s support and it would now discuss consequences “including expulsion proceedings.”

Palmer was elected to a second eight-year term as mayor in 2014 and remains a popular figure in Tuebingen, a university town in southwest Germany.

Aogo was earlier this week embroiled in a racism row with former Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

The Associated Press