Nativity Scene in Spain Severely Vandalized

Case information
Incident date
Country
Spain
Place
Berriozar
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Private
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Vandalism (all)
  • Vandalism of Public Christian Symbol
  • Intolerance towards Religious Symbols
Religious Freedom / Discrimination
  • Censorship or Removal of Public Christian Symbols
  • Other (text field)
Place of Incident
  • Public Christian Symbol (outside place of worship)
Bias Indicators
  • Comments/Written Statements/Gestures/Graffiti
  • Significance of Property/Structure/Location to religious community
Reported to Police
  • Unknown
Response of Local Authorities
  • Unknown
Symbolic image; not a photograph of the reported incident.Image credit: NeONBRAND on Unsplash

On December 7th, the nativity scene that is placed every year in the Eguzki square in Berriozar became the target of vandalism. Almost all figures were split in half and destroyed by unknown perpetrators. The figures are made out of wood and were freshly painted this year, which means that the budget for the new restoration is very small.

"They were freshly painted this year," lamented Maribel Vals, a member of the Asociación Cabalgata de Reyes, a group that will work to get the figures ready as soon as possible. "We are going to fix them as well as we can, since the budget is what it is," said Vals.