Statue of Jesus on the Cross Set on Fire Outside St. Joseph Church

Case information
Incident date
Country
Germany
Place
Velbert
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Anti-Religion or Humanism Groups
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Arson
  • Desecration
  • 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
  • Church
  • Public Christian Symbol (outside place of worship)
Bias Indicators
  • Comments/Written Statements/Gestures/Graffiti
  • Pattern or Frequency of Attacks
Reported to Police
  • Yes
Response of Local Authorities
  • Investigated
Symbolic image; not a photograph of the reported incident.Image credit: Christoph Schmid on Unsplash

The statue of Christ on the Cross already has been vandalized in the past with satanic symbols, during the time of October 21 and 23, it was set on fire. The 31-year-old arsonist of the statue at St. Joseph's Church in Velbert, was found guilty of other arson attacks in the city and was arrested by the police, where he admitted the crimes. In order to cause the massive damage, it looks like the man wrapped the legs of the statue in cloth and then set it on fire.

Sources