Mayor condemns far-right AfD party for racist comments about mixed-race girl opening German Christmas market

Local AfD branch suggests girl’s selection shows German people are being ‘eradicated’

Benigna Munsi was unanimously chosen by city authorities to be Nuremberg's traditional 'Christ Child' this year (BR24)

The mayor of Nuremberg has condemned Germany’s largest far-right party for racist comments about a girl who was picked to open the city’s Christmas market.

A local branch of Alternative for Germany (AfD) attacked Benigna Munsi, a mixed-race teenager who was unanimously chosen by city authorities to be the traditional “Christ Child”.

Ms Munsi was born in Nuremberg and has a father of Indian descent and a German-born mother.

In a since-deleted Facebook post, the AfD branch suggested that the girl’s selection showed German people were being eradicated like indigenous groups in North America.

“You would laugh about it if you didn't know these guys are serious, but you could cry about this level of misanthropy,” Ulrich Maly, the mayor of Nuremberg, said at a press conference with the girl on Sunday.

The mayor noted there had been “idiotic comments” in the past, which were sometimes “ethnically-connotated”.

“But today, we have an openly racist connotation,” Mr Maly said.

Nuremberg traditionally picks a local teenage girl to be the Christ Child for two years.

The role includes opening the city’s famous Christmas market and touring local towns, schools and retirement homes.

In a post which included a picture of Ms Munsi, an AfD member wrote: “Nuremberg has a new Christ Child. One day, we're going to go the way of the Indians.”

The AfD branch has apologised for the post, arguing it does not correspond with its values, and said the person responsible has resigned.

Ms Munsi has said she is doing well despite the comment.

“I am surprised by the positive responses I have received,” she said at the press conference.

“They say, ‘Cheer up, not all people are so negative - we're behind you.’ I was very happy about that.”

The AfD has been criticised for spreading anti-immigration and anti-refugee messages in its campaigning.

In 2017, its founder was condemned for a speech in which he mocked Germany’s policy of remembrance for the Holocaust.

Björn Höcke said Germans were “the only people in the world who plant a monument of shame in the heart of the capital”, in reference to Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial.

Despite the party's past controversies, the AfD has been in third or fourth place in recent national polls.