The mayor of a small Austrian town has resigned after telling a city council meeting that journalists who report on asylum seekers ‘’should be hanged like the Jews.’’
Austrian news outlet Heute.at reported that Karl Simlinger, Mayor of Gföhl, a city locaed 70km northwest of Vienna, voiced his anger about asylum seekers who would be housed nearby in a planned building complex.
"I don't give a shit about asylum seekers, but the journalists are to be blamed. They should be hanged; they are like the Jews."
Two city council representatives confirmed Simlinger's statements to the Heute.at outlet.
The Mayor said that he was resigning after making a statement that "grossly contravenes my convictions and my personal views."
In Austria, defamatory remarks regarding Jews are a crime and it is reported that an anti-racist group will be pressing charges against Simlinger after his comments.