VIENNA – The mayor of an Austrian village says he's resigning after being accused of racist and anti-Semitic comments.
Karl Simlinger has denied some of the remarks attributed to him by an opposition member of the village council. But on Friday he acknowledged making a statement that "grossly contravenes my convictions and my personal views."
Simlinger didn't specify what he meant, but may have been referring to accusations that he had likened foreign asylum-seekers in Austria to excrement and said journalists should be hanged "like the Jews."
Simlinger allegedly made the comments during discussion about building a home for refugees in his village of Gfoehl, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Vienna.
In Austria, such remarks are a crime and an anti-racist group is pressing charges against Simlinger.
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