Hundreds of graves were vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France over the weekend, in what the interior minister called “a despicable act.”
“The country will not tolerate this new injury which goes against the values that all French people share,” said Bernard Cazeneuve, without giving further details of the incident in the town of Sarre-Union, The Guardian reported.
“Every effort will be made to identify, question and bring to justice the person or persons responsible for this ignominious act,” he said.
France’s prime minister Manuel Valls, writing on Twitter, also condemned the vandalism, calling it “an antisemitic and ignoble act.”
Local media reported that about 200 grave stones were knocked down, and a monument to Holocaust victims was damaged, the Associated Press reported.
The vandalism comes as French Jews continue to flee the country amid fears of anti-Semitism, after an Islamic terrorist gunned town four Jews at a Paris kosher deli last month and similar attacks Denmark this weekend, AP reported.
French President Francois Hollande said in a statement that “France is determined to fight relentlessly against anti-Semitism and those who want to attack the nation’s values.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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