Charlie Hebdo cartoon depicting drowned child Alan Kurdi sparks racism debate

The cartoon depicts Alan's body alongside a caption suggesting he would have become a "groper in Germany".

It follows the revelation that gangs of migrants carried out organised sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year's Eve.

The magazine has been widely condemned on social media and accused of racism.

Twitter users called the image "disgusting" and "tasteless", as well as accusing the magazine of racism and Islamophobia.

Financial Times journalist Christopher Thompson suggested it may be a satire on “sweeping stereotypes about migrants” and not racist at all.

Tweets by a number of writers with a photograph of the Charlie Hedbo cartoon provoked intense debate about whether the cartoon is overtly racist or is an attempt to satirise media coverage of refugees in Europe.

Sunny Hundal called it “disgusting”.

Sources: The Guardian and BBC News