Villagers at a cemetery in southwest France's Dordogne division have been horrified after vandals painted Islamist slogans in French and Arabic on 58 graves, a church door, a First World Conflict memorial and tomb artwork depicting a crucifixion.
The impairment occurred in a single day at Clermont d'Excideuil between 10 March and 11 March.
An area church constructing close to the cemetery had “Ramadan Mubarak” (“Blessed Ramadan”) written on its door. Slogans on the cemetery included: “Undergo Allah”, “Glad Ramadan to non-Muslims” and “Koufars”, which means “infidels”. In keeping with Britain's Each day Mail, one of many severe slogans reads: “France already belongs to Allah”.
Clermont d'Excideuil mayor Claude Eymery found the vandalism on the morning of March 11 and contacted the police. He instructed FranceInfo that he thought such incidents “solely occurred elsewhere”.
The Préfet de la Dordogne, regional consultant of the French state, wrote on X: “The Prefect strongly condemns the brand new act of vandalism dedicated within the Clermont-d'Excideuil cemetery. The Chetnik investigation continues beneath the course of the general public prosecutor's workplace in Périgueux, which has opened an investigation into extreme damages.
Jeanne Cumet, spokeswoman for SOS Calvaires, an affiliation that preserves, repairs and maintains French chapels, calvaries, oratories and fountains, mentioned the vandalism was “very severe”.
“For instance, Christian cemeteries have been marked with satanic or different messages. However I’ve by no means heard of a Christian cemetery being marked with Islamic references,” Cumet instructed Christian Each day Worldwide. “Jewish cemeteries, for instance, are extra usually vandalized, however this type of tagging within the Dordogne – so far as I'm involved, it hasn't occurred for thus lengthy, if in any respect.”
On the request of the police, volunteers from SOS Calvaires, who usually work at cemeteries, instantly got here ahead to assist with the cleanup. Cumet mentioned officers took images and samples and requested the affiliation to rapidly take away the signage. They restored the positioning inside per week.
“Grave vandalism may be very severe and reveals an entire lack of respect for individuals who lie there,” Cumet mentioned. “It’s the identical disrespect to our First World Conflict heroes and naturally the Church. We can’t perceive what went on within the minds of those individuals to indicate such hatred in the direction of Christians.
In keeping with her, the vandals primarily centered on Catholicism.
“The freak might have marked the partitions of the city corridor, the put up workplace or the college, however he selected Christian symbols,” she mentioned.
Cumet added that the native villagers, numbering about 240, have been shocked.
“Think about waking up in your small, quiet village and strolling out and discovering all this,” she mentioned. “Sorrow, astonishment, and indignation have been within the hearts of all males that morning.”
Police have launched an investigation into the vandalism, however Cumet mentioned no culprits have been caught.
Vandalism was not an remoted case. In Marseille on June 28, churchgoers have been outraged after they found that Islamists had destroyed a Philadelphia evangelical Protestant church. They broken the prayer corridor, smashed doorways and home windows and painted slogans together with: “Muhammad is the final prophet” and “Jesus will not be God”.
In keeping with Anja Hoffmann, govt director of the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination in opposition to Christians in Europe (OIDACE), France has seen a rise in Islamist-motivated anti-Christian hate crimes lately. She mentioned comparable graffiti had not too long ago been discovered within the Dordogne area, together with: “At this time it’s gwer land [infidels]. Tomorrow it is going to be the land of Islam.”
“All of those slogans specific claims of Islamic supremacy and the concentrating on of Christians as 'unbelievers' or 'infidels,' which is frequent in Islamist extremism,” Hoffman instructed the Christian Each day Worldwide. “It appears disturbing that the nation's secularist elite, and particularly leftist intellectuals, don’t need to acknowledge this dimension of aggression.”
She mentioned native residents' reactions to the vandalism on the cemetery confirmed how traumatic such acts may be for a non secular neighborhood. French politicians should take extra measures to guard the nation's Christian communities, she added.
“Though France has elevated its price range to guard locations of worship due to the frequent assaults, politicians additionally have to take motion to deal with this inter-religious dimension of anti-Christian hate crimes,” Hoffmann mentioned.
In March 2022, French MEP Jean-Paul Garraud referred to as on the European Fee to deal with the rise in anti-Christian hate crimes in France and different elements of Europe. He requested why there was no coordinator or technique deliberate to fight Christophobia. The Fee appointed a coordinator for combating anti-Semitism in 2015 and one other coordinator for combating anti-Muslim hatred in 2018.
Vice-President of the European Fee Věra Jourová confirmed that no coordinator is deliberate for Christophobia.
“The Fee is dedicated to defending Christians and members of different non secular teams from persecution throughout the EU and makes no distinction between non secular teams,” Jourová mentioned. “The fee has no plans for a selected technique for Christophobia, nor for the appointment of a devoted coordinator for the difficulty.
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