Austria's far-right Freedom Party was under fire from all sides Tuesday, including the president, after its leader reportedly likened guests at a right-wing Vienna ball to Jews persecuted by the Nazis.
At the Wiener Korporationsring (WKR) ball on Friday, slammed for its far-right associations, FPOe chief Heinz-Christian Strache allegedly complained about protesters attacking guests outside.
"That was like the Night of Broken Glass," the daily Der Standard on Monday quoted him as saying, a reference to the violent pogrom against Jewish businesses and homes in Nazi Germany and Austria on November 9-10, 1938.
"We are the new Jews," he was also overheard telling other ball guests, as some complained their taxi had been stopped by protesters, the report said.
The comments, which Strache has not denied making, "disgust me profoundly," Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger told journalists Tuesday.
He insisted a ball and the Nazi persecution of Jews "cannot be compared" and urged Strache to apologise immediately.
President Heinz Fischer meanwhile said he had decided not to award Strache a top state honour that he had been scheduled to receive.
The FPOe leader "linked the protests against the WKR ball -- for whatever reason -- to the Nazis' criminal November pogrom which left countless dead," Fischer said.
On Monday, the Jewish community already slammed the comments as a "monstrous provocation" and threatened to file a complaint.
The Social Democrats also chastised Strache for "trivialising Nazi atrocities," and the opposition Greens urged parliament to throw Strache out, insisting: "He has gambled away any legitimacy as a politician."
Strache says he did not mean to belittle the Nazis' persecution of Jews with his comments, but has not denied the daily Standard's reports either.
On Tuesday, he complained on his Facebook page that his words had been "intentionally misrepresented" and that "things (were) taken entirely out of context."
Some 4,000 protesters demonstrated against the WKR ball Friday at the Imperial Palace, according to organisers, attended by extreme-right politicians from across Europe including Marine Le Pen, head of France's National Front and presidential candidate.
This year's event was especially controversial as it coincided with the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and Holocaust Memorial Day.