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Stuttgart (AP) - Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann has harshly criticized the Mayor of Tübingen Boris Palmer for his statements about the former national soccer player Dennis Aogo.
«You simply cannot make such statements.
That just doesn't work, ”said the green head of government on Saturday on the sidelines of the state party conference in Stuttgart.
"I also find it unworthy of a lord mayor to constantly polarize with provocations."
Palmer had previously caused outrage on Facebook with statements about Aogo.
The Green State Party Congress voted by a large majority to initiate a party expulsion process against Palmer.
The background to this is a discussion with Facebook users, during which Palmer took up a quote attributed to Aogo on Friday and commented, obviously ironically: "Aogo is a bad racist." As a justification, he referred to an unverified Facebook comment in which it had been claimed without any evidence that Aogo had used the N-word for himself. The term N-Wort is used today to describe a racist term used in Germany for black people.
Kretschmann showed his incomprehension that Palmer took up this alleged quote.
The Tübingen mayor is a "professional" who should know: "Irony never works in politics."
Now we have to wait and see how the regulatory process goes.
The 72-year-old head of government and Palmer (48) have long been considered close confidants, they are both unrealistic.
But Kretschmann also kept his distance again and again because of Palmer's constant provocative statements.
Most recently, however, the Prime Minister had campaigned for rapprochement in mid-December after the state party Palmer suggested leaving the party in May.
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The former head of the Green Party, Cem Özdemir, also heavily criticized Palmer.
Actually, they wanted to deal with the green-black coalition agreement in Stuttgart.
"All the more annoying that Boris Palmer knocked you out again."
Many Greens would rightly have the feeling: "It's enough."
It is also a “damned duty” for a mayor to pay attention to the choice of words.
"If you don't know, you haven't heard the shot."
He also no longer wants to deal with the Palmer statements.
"I'm a little tired of doing Palmer exegesis," said the Southwest Greens' top candidate for the federal election.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210508-99-519444 / 2
Palmer statement on Facebook
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Original Palmer entry on "Cancel Culture"
Application to the state party conference
Decision of the Southwest Greens from May 2020 with the threat of regulatory proceedings