Nine Statues of the Virgin Mary Attacked in Less than Four Hours in Pyrenees
Case information
Incident date
Country
France
Place
Béarn
Categories
Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
Faith
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
Private
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
Desecration
Vandalism (all)
Vandalism of Church
Place of Incident
Church
Bias Indicators
Significance of Property/Structure/Location to religious community
Time/Place/Location
Reported to Police
Yes
Response of Local Authorities
Investigated
Image credit: Abbé Jean-Jacques Dufau curé de la paroisse du Christ-Sauveur
On the morning of January 9th, in the space of 45 minutes, five statues of the Virgin Mary, located in three different churches of Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques): Saint-Martin, Saint-Jacques and Notre-Dame, were destroyed. Similar vandalism continued in the churches of the Béarn communes of Lons, Artix, Denguin, and Mourenx, where, each time, a statue of the Virgin was destroyed. A 35-year-old man, described as homeless, was arrested in Mourenx at the end of the day and sent for psychiatric evaluation.
