The mayor of a Belgian city has defended a carnival which features racist caricatures of Orthodox Jews as "just fun".
The parade in the city of Aalst featured people dressed as Jews with huge fur hats and long fake noses. Some people wore ant costumes, which have been criticised for likening Jewish people to "vermin".
A spokesperson for Aalst's mayor told BBC on Monday the parade is "just our humour...just fun".
Peter Van den Bossche went on to say the carnival "did not wish harm to anyone".
"It's our parade, our humour, people can do whatever they want. It's a weekend of freedom of speech."
Other floats mocked Brexit, Boris Johnson, Greta Thunberg and Jesus Christ on the cross.
There were also people wearing Nazi uniforms.
Van de Bossche said the depiction of Nazis was not normally acceptable.
"Normally we don't accept that - we condemn that. We say: what can we do about it? Put people in prison? No."
Belgian Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes said the depiction of Jews in the parade harms the country's reputation.
"The use of stereotypes stigmatising communities and groups based on their origins leads to divisions and endangers our togetherness."
Aalst's annual three-day carnival originated in the Middle Ages.
It was once recognised as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. However this status was revoked in 2019 after repeated controversy over anti-semitic and Islamaphobic portrayals.
In 2005 the Belgian government apologised to the Arab League on behalf of Aalst for it's parade featuring people dressed as terrorists in burqas. Aalst's Mayor expressed displeasure at the apology, saying the carnival had done nothing which merited an apology.
In 2013, people dressed as Nazis paraded with cans marked Zyklon B - the gas used in the death chambers of concentration camps.
