BERLIN (Reuters) – German police have asked prosecutors to investigate a far-right lawmaker for possible incitement to hatred after she criticized a police force for tweeting in Arabic “to appease the barbaric, Muslim, rapist hordes of men”.

Police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) posted a New Year’s Eve greeting in Arabic as well as German, English and French. Cologne, a city where groups of mainly Arab immigrants were accused of sexual assaults at New Year’s Eve celebrations two years ago, is located in the state.

“What the hell is wrong with this country? Why is the official page of police in NRW tweeting in Arabic,” Beatrix von Storch, a member of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), wrote in a Dec. 31 tweet that was later deleted by Twitter after receiving complaints from members of the public.

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