French churches fall victim to vandalism
Vandalism at a Catholic church in Lieusaint, France. Photo Twitter @AmauryBucco
Western Europe
In southern France, a church was damaged by a gang. But that was not the only French church suffering from vandalism recently.
Was it youthful hubris or deliberate religious hatred? According to authorities, a gang of minors is responsible for damaging a Catholic church in Cugnaux, near Toulouse, in southern France. The Saint-Laurent de Cugnaux church suffered the start of a fire when a person nearby saw smoke rising. The starting fire was quickly controlled, but the damage was enormous.
In addition to the fire damage, "all candles were knocked down, a crucifix was damaged, and paintings were broken." This says Albert Sanchez, mayor of Cugnaux. Sanchez says to be "extremely shocked" and condemns the "act of violence against a religious community." The mayor expressed his solidarity with the Catholic faithful.
David
In early May, a church in Lieusaint, near Paris, was also damaged by vandals. Various inscriptions were tagged on the church wall. A Star of David, inscriptions in Arabic and several other things were drawn on the wall. According to the Lieusaint mayor, Michel Bisson, the vandalism is an "inadmissible, unacceptable and reprehensible gesture.
Aside from several inscriptions, there was also the sentence "Long live Islam and peace" drawn onto the wall. The Mosque of Lieusaint has "strongly condemned this act of vandalism", Bisson told the media outlet CNews. The Mosque was sceptical that Muslims could have made these inscriptions.
It is not the first time that the Lieusaint church was vandalised; the conservative news website Valeurs Actuelles reports. Several statues had been degraded and overthrown, but the police could not arrest the perpetrators of this act.
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