BERLIN: A German right-wing politician who caused outrage by racially disparaging footballer Jerome Boateng followed up Friday by saying the national team is “no longer ... German in the classical sense.”
Alexander Gauland of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party also questioned the loyalty of German-born international Mesut Ozil, who is of Turkish origin, for making the Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah. The controversy follows hot on the heels of a row last week, which saw far-right German group PEGIDA slam pictures of black and Asian children on chocolate bars, only to discover the photos were of current Germany internationals as youngsters.
Neighboring France has also become embroiled in a Euro 2016-related racism controversy after striker Karim Benzema claimed he was left out of the squad following “pressure from a racist part of France.”
The 28-year-old Real Madrid star, who is of Algerian origin, was charged earlier this year with complicity in an attempt to blackmail France team-mate Mathieu Valbuena over a sextape.
France legend Eric Cantona questioned the motives for excluding Benzema and fellow forward Hatem Ben Arfa, who is of Tunisian extraction, but leading political and sporting figures have denied racism was the reason for their non-inclusion.
Back in Germany, the three-year-old populist AfD shifted from a euroskeptic to an anti-immigrant and Islamophobic stance as Germany took in more than one million asylum seekers last year, and has won seats in half of Germany’s 16 state assemblies. Gauland, a hard-line deputy leader of the AfD, has come under fire in recent days for saying most Germans would not want Boateng, whose father is Ghanaian, as their neighbor, a comment Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman condemned as “vile and sad.”
Alexander Gauland of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party also questioned the loyalty of German-born international Mesut Ozil, who is of Turkish origin, for making the Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah. The controversy follows hot on the heels of a row last week, which saw far-right German group PEGIDA slam pictures of black and Asian children on chocolate bars, only to discover the photos were of current Germany internationals as youngsters.
Neighboring France has also become embroiled in a Euro 2016-related racism controversy after striker Karim Benzema claimed he was left out of the squad following “pressure from a racist part of France.”
The 28-year-old Real Madrid star, who is of Algerian origin, was charged earlier this year with complicity in an attempt to blackmail France team-mate Mathieu Valbuena over a sextape.
France legend Eric Cantona questioned the motives for excluding Benzema and fellow forward Hatem Ben Arfa, who is of Tunisian extraction, but leading political and sporting figures have denied racism was the reason for their non-inclusion.
Back in Germany, the three-year-old populist AfD shifted from a euroskeptic to an anti-immigrant and Islamophobic stance as Germany took in more than one million asylum seekers last year, and has won seats in half of Germany’s 16 state assemblies. Gauland, a hard-line deputy leader of the AfD, has come under fire in recent days for saying most Germans would not want Boateng, whose father is Ghanaian, as their neighbor, a comment Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman condemned as “vile and sad.”
