INNSBRUCK, Austria (AP) — Austria’s far-right party is apologizing for its election campaign posters that equate Moroccans with “thieves,” and says it is getting rid of them.
The slogan “Heimatliebe statt Marokkaner-Diebe” on the Freedom Party placards for local elections in Innsbruck translates as “Love of your home country instead of Moroccan thieves.”
The move comes after Morocco’s government threatened legal action, and Austrian state prosecutors said they were considering criminal charges.
August Penz, head of the party’s Innsbruck chapter, said Sunday all 33 posters have either been covered or removed, and all will be taken down by midweek.
He says in a statement he “never had the intention to insult anyone” and apologizes for the “content and formulation” of the posters.
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