Posted on 04/30/2004 7:51:06 AM PDT by MegaSilver
PARIS - Vandals painted swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti on headstones at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France, an act that drew the swift condemnation of the government on Friday.
French President Jacques Chirac promised a tough crackdown on anti-Jewish violence after the vandalism on the cemetery in Herrlisheim.
"Anti-Semitism is contrary to all the values, principles and ideas of the Republic," Chirac said.
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's office said he immediately wrote a letter to a local Jewish group to express outrage, and Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin called off appointments and immediately headed to the village in the Alsace region.
Vandals painted swastikas and the name of Adolf Hitler on 127 headstones sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning, authorities said. Some of the writing was in German.
In the last several years, France has suffered a wave of violence against Jewish schools, synagogues and cemeteries that coincided with new fighting in the Middle East. Many of the attacks have been blamed on young Muslims.
More recently, France's large Muslim community has also faced several attacks. In a case of suspected arson last month, fire damaged a mosque and destroyed a Muslim prayer hall in the southeast.
Just more cultural imperialism.
Reuters--French Jewish graves desecrated
Fri 30 April, 2004 15:31
COLMAR, France (Reuters) - Vandals have desecrated 127 graves with Nazi swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans written in German in a Jewish cemetery close to the French border with Germany, officials say.
The incident is the latest in a spate of attacks on Jewish property and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin vowed quick police action to arrest those behind the desecration of the Herrlisheim cemetery 20 km (12 miles) from the German border.
"The odious nature of these acts should provoke a collective sense of indignation," he said in a statement on Friday.
Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin said he would travel to the cemetery on Friday to inspect the crime.
Swastikas, the name of Adolf Hitler and the SS initials of his elite guard were etched or painted onto tombstones.
"Juden raus" -- "Jews out" in German -- was written above the entrance gate to the cemetery.
Two German flags and the Nazi slogan "One Reich, One People, One Leader" in German were also found on the site, Herrlisheim mayor Jean-Francois Wilhem told Reuters.
Police did not say whether they had any leads on who was behind the attack, discovered early on Friday by a truck driver as he passed the cemetery.
France's 400,000-strong Jewish community is the largest in Europe. Officials have boosted vigilance against anti-Semitic attacks after the firebombing of a Jewish school near Paris and an attack on a Jewish cemetery in Marseille last November.
The latest incident comes amid a bitter political row over accusations by French Finance Minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy that the previous left-wing government gave the impression abroad that France was an anti-Semitic country.
Opposition Socialist leaders have demanded that he make an apology for his remarks in the National Assembly lower house of parliament this week. Sarkozy, who until last month was interior minister in charge of crimefighting, has refused to apologise.
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