Perpetrator Tags Church with Graffiti, Among other Vandalic acts

Case information
Incident date
Country
France
Place
Lieusaint
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Private
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Vandalism (all)
  • Vandalism of Church
  • Intolerance towards Religious Symbols
Place of Incident
  • Church
Bias Indicators
  • Comments/Written Statements/Gestures/Graffiti
  • Pattern or Frequency of Attacks
  • Significance of Property/Structure/Location to religious community
Reported to Police
  • Yes
Response of Local Authorities
  • Unknown

On May 5, 2013, graffiti was found on the Church of Lieusaint, in a suburb of Paris. The graffiti, which said: 'Vive l'Islam et la paix" (Long live Islam and Peace) was written in French and a Star of David was drawn. According to a local Muslim association, the scripture, full of mistakes, is unlikely to come from a Muslim. The Mayor strongly condemns this "proof of human stupidity". Last year, statues inside the church had been destroyed.

Update: The night after (5-6 May) the WWI Monument of Barbizon, a village nearby, and a bank in Melun have been tagged too. Later, the American Monument of Meaux has been tagged as well. An oil station was destroyed and ten buses burnt in the same region. The police arrested a man thanks to security videotapes. He confessed all the degradations and was kept in a psychiatric hospital to undergo some examinations.

Illustration: CNews

Sources