Altar Statue Smashed and Parish Documents Burned in Romilly-sur-Seine

Case information
Incident date
Country
France
Place
Romilly-sur-Seine
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Private
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Desecration
  • Vandalism (all)
  • Vandalism of Church
  • Vandalism of Public Christian Symbol
Place of Incident
  • Church
Bias Indicators
  • Significance of Property/Structure/Location to religious community
Reported to Police
  • Yes
Response of Local Authorities
  • Unknown
Image credit: lest-eclair.fr

In the Saint-Martin Church in Romilly-sur-Seine, a plaster statue of the Virgin Mary, located behind the altar, was smashed on the floor on March 31st. Earlier in the week, some parish documents from a display had been burned at the altar. Father Richard Lukaszewski filed a complaint about this vandalism and requested that the local police make more frequent rounds in that area.