A TOWN council in Provence has had to destroy thousands of leaflets promoting its Christmas market because it included images of the swastika.

The mairie in Orange, in the Vaucluse, said a member of staff had not noticed the Nazi emblem when choosing the background for the festive promotional leaflet.

Orange town council head of communication André-Yves Beck told 20 Minutes that the flyers had been handed out to shops around the town but would now be recalled and redesigned.

He said the person responsible for the leaflet had chosen the background from a selection of clip art images in Photoshop because she liked the Indian theme.

Anti-racism group SOS Racisme has said it will lodge a complaint against the mairie for "inciting racial hatred".