A famous Belgian carnival has been struck off Unesco’s cultural heritage list after complaints of blatant anti-Semitism, including a float depicting Jews with hooked noses sitting atop piles of money.

In an unprecedented move, the global culture agency struck the Aalst carnival from the Intangible Cultural Heritage list, the first time a cultural tradition has ever been taken off the list for racism.

"They can continue to do the festival. We are not opposing that" said Ernesto Ottone, Unesco's assistant director-general for culture. "What we don't want is the brand of Unesco on a festival that for (some) may be humor, but for us is mockery of some communities.”

Mr Ottone said that town officials were warned several times about anti-Semitic symbolism in previous versions of the carnival but failed to take actions that would "draw a line" on what kind of floats and displays were acceptable.

Christoph D’Haese, the mayor of the Flemish-speaking town, dismissed what he called "grotesque complaints" over the carnival and said it was not his job to police the humour of festival goers.