A stranger broke into the Catholic church in Starzach-Börstingen and vandalised the organ, the Easter candle and much more.
In Mittelhessen, 14 of a collection of 44 handmade cribs were vandalised. The initiator of this exhibition estimates the material damage to about 500€ but the ultimate damage is boundless.
A monument in memory of pope Jean-Paul II was damaged by vandals.
The representation of the Catholic Church in Finland reported to OSCE a total of 21 hate crimes directed against Christians in the year 2011. The hate crimes range from insult and threat to vandalism and physical assault.
A principal, Malory Nye, and his wife have been sacked from the Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education in Dundee, Scotland, whose stated aim is to promote multiculturalism because they are white Christians, they claim. ‘We were sacked for being white and Christian', claim principal and his wife dismissed from Dubai-backed 'multicultural' college."
The Sankt Augustin church in Bonn was vandalised by strangers who broke a glass door and moved one of the massive offertory boxes. They couldn’t steal anything but the damage of property is worth about 1000€.
A unknown perpetrator entered the church of St. Otilia in Börstingen and caused damage. At the organ he took a pipe about 70 centimetres high, pressed it into the other organ pipes and damaged a number of other organ pipes. He tore out several ornamental pins from the Easter candle and damaged it with a knife as well.
A church in Hilden was broken into, the burglars emptied two offertory boxes and broke two glass windows to get in. It is not known how much money was in the boxes.
Vandals purposely damaged the main entrance of S. Maria Maggiore’s basilica.
Churches and graveyards around Gießen were vandalised. Someone painted symbols on gravestones and church doors and windows were covered in orange paint.
The chapel of the church "Nostra Signora della Speranza" in Villaricca (Naples) was target by vandals during Christmas night.
The Bible Garden in Loeffingen was totally devastated by a unknown perpetrator. The garden and the plants were completely ruined.
On December 7th 2011 the St.Germanus church in Wesseling was vandalised. Neo-Nazi symbols were sprayed in golden acrylic paint all over the doors.
A wave of crime and vandalism hit several parishes in the area of Bayeux and Bessin. Notre-Dame du Bessin, Saint-Loup Hors and Manoir churches have suffered material damage whereas in the parish of Port en Bessin a chalice was stolen.
The statue of the Christ of the small village of Wasnes-au-Bac (Nord) was beheaded by one or several vandals, probably during the night from Tuesday, November 15th to Wednesday, November 16th. The mayor of the village, Jules Cornet is particularly shocked as the statue had been restored just fifteen days before.
Vandals broke in Santa Lucia’s church in Sarano, stole the church offerings as well as three patens and a robe. They also threw the Eucharstic hosts to the flour and damaged the sacristy.
Three images of Mary and two crucifixes were vandalised in the city of Dax between November 10th and 18th. The statue of Mary located in Pontonx church was covered from the top to the bottom with red paint; the face of a Virgin located at the Saugnac-y-Cambran junction was covered with red as well; and the Virgin of Buglose´s face was covered with black paint. One of the vandalized crucifixes was painted in red and the arms cut off, while the one located inside Rion-des-Landes church was covered with red paint.
The cemetery of the village of Sussargues in France has been vandalised. The perpetrator(s) damaged about thirty graves and memorials. Crucifix were broken or turned upside down, statuettes of the Virgin Mary were planted head in the ground. Satanists tags are visible on many graves.
The church of Sainte-Claire of Vauréal has been desecrated and Christian symbols specifically attacked. A city councilor criticizes the lack of response of governmental institutions.
In the Swiss village of St. Pantaleon-Nuglar, unknown perpetrators have attacked Christian images several times. Corpusses were pulled off crosses, taken away or destroyed. One corpus was hung on a tree. Now, the image of a naked woman was sprayed on a cross which had formally been vandalised and stripped of the corpus. A charge against unknown persons was submitted by by the private owner of the wayside cross.
For several years local youth have been vandalizing St. Georg Church in Munich. They took tiles off the roof, sprayed graffiti on the outside walls, urinated into the holy water vessels and set fire at the local graveyard. The attacks were ongoing in November 2011. Some of the youth are known to the parish priest, who does not reported them to the police. One of the youth stated in a TV interview with blurred image that he was Moslem and felt uncomfortable with the majority denomination. The priest says that many youth are aggressive towards the Church due to emotional neglect they suffer at home.
On the night of October 30th, vandals raged on the graveyard of Niedereschach, damaging graves, memorial candles, statues of Mary and of angels, flowers, and jardinières. They also pulled out wooden crosses of fresh graves and lined them up upside down which could indicate a satanic background.
Several cases of vandalism were recorded on the graveyard in Westerkappeln between October 26th and October 28th, including the use of graveyard lanterns as foot balls.
In Ostbevern, strangers knocked off the nose, feet, and part of the knee of a figure of Christ located on the graveyard. This is not the first time that the statue suffered from vandalism.
An attempt of arson occured on October 22nd at the church of Kallenhardt. As a consequence, the church, which was freely accessible for prayer and recollection, had to remain closed for a longer period of time.
Strangers ravaged on the graveyard of Styrum in Mülheim and damaged 30 graves in the night from Oct 22 to 23.
It was very difficult for the inhabitants of Agnez-les-Duisans to realize that the Statue of Mary holding baby Jesus had disappeared and its emplacement had been very much damaged. The police is enquiring.
During a "Black Block", a left wing militant manifestation in Rome, an unknown number of people entered the parish of Santi Marcellino e Pietro al Laterano and destroyed the crucifix and a statue of the Virgin Mary of Lourdes.
A small group of anarchist targeted the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome. Various damages were detected, including the destruction of a statue of Mary.
A group of youth who were marching as part of the anti-capitalist movement "Occupy Rome", detoured from the main stream of the parade, and made their way into Saints Marcellino and Pietro Parish, located between Labicana and Merulana streets. The youth, with their heads covered and handing sticks, broke into the parish house and took the statue of the Immaculate Conception and a crucifix. They carried the sacred icons outside the parish premises to the street, where both were destroyed and the debriefs left on the street.
On October 12th unknown perpetraters vandalized the parish church of the Immaculate Conception in Vohwinkel. They damaged valuable pieces of art: a sword was pulled off a statue and attached to a crucifix, and a branch of a seven-branched candelabrum was torn off.
Strangers set fire to the entrance door of the presbytery by means of petrol in Rüthen on Oct 12th. The fire had already made its way under the door and set the tapestry on fire when it was discovered and extinguished. Police asked the public for help.
Recurring instances of vandalism at Essen cemetery amount to 30 000 Euros in damage. The acts of vandalism include the stealing of vases, the removal of letters on graveyards, the ignition of over 50 compost containers in the time period of a few weeks. Several relatives of those whose graves had been attacked were under significant emotional distress.
The Church of Saint Martin in Langrune-sur-Mer (Calvados), a XIIIth century church, was targeted by vandals. Many damages were caused: flowers on the ground, flower pots smashed, prayer books ripped, candles broken into pieces... The police have also found signs that the vandals had the intention to put the church on fire but had not succeeded.
A 16 year-old admitted being responsible for the desecration of numerous graves in Schönau on the 17th of September. He had knocked over memorial candles and gravestones, and had pulled out a wooden cross and destroyed it.
Twenty graves and tombstones have been desecrated in the small village of Buxy in Burgundy. The 2,000 residents of Buxy and their mayor are shocked and incredulous, the police has opened an investigation.
The Saint-Michel Catholic church of Dijon has been smeared on during the night on September 13th. The mayor’s office quickly responded by clearing out the inscriptions. One could see a scored of cross and read «No Gods, no Masters».
On August 21st a crucifixion group was defaced with black paint in Wassenberg-Myhl by strangers.
Vandals started a devastating fire in the parish church of Saint-Lucie in Begijnendijk (Flemish Brabant). They entered the church through a window and put fire to the curtains and chairs. The damage is significant and the church was closed for several weeks.
The office of Johannes Bucher, the European Regional Director of Human Life International’s (HLI), was attacked after a pro-life march in Salzburg, Austria. The office suffered seven broken windows, causing thousands of Euros in damage.
The cemetery of Champniers and its surroundings were vandalized at the end of July 2011. Crosses were tossed, and statues of Marie damaged, flower pots thrown to the ground.
Unknown perpetrators urinated into a Holy Water vessel of St. Ann Catholic church, in Ascheberg. They also damaged organ pipes, several apostle statues and a censer. The damage amounts to several thousand Euros. The police has not yet convicted the vandals and does not rule out that they are a gang of teenagers.
The Church of Saint Jean Baptiste of Bessans (Savoie) was vandalized in the night from July 26th to July 27th. Swastika were painted on the door of the church and "Adolf Hitler" written on the church steps. The vandals apparently tried to break open the door but did not succeed.
The church of Saint-Jouin-Bruneval in the Seine Maritime department of Normandy has been vandalised during the night from Saturday 15th to Sunday 16th of July. An unknown number of person came through the door of the church tower, descended a ladder and took a choir bench to break down the door of the sacristy which they completely wrenched. They tumbled the candles and the candle-holders and then ripped off a wooden chest near the main altar. Finally, they broke open the offertory-box were to take its contents.
Unknown perpetrators ravaged in the church of St. John’s in Heidelberg on June 1st. Police confirmed that they sloshed around drinks on the altar and in the area of the organ, put meatballs in the organ pipes and dog dirt on the clavier.
The cemetery of La Moutonne of Saint-Lys in the department of Haute-Garonne has been vandalized in the night from Thursday to Friday, June 30th, 2011. Memorial plaques were lying on the ground, damaged. A bench of the cemetery had been split into pieces, urn compartments had been opened and no less than twenty graves had received stroke of large stones flung against them, thus breaking plaques, ceramics and flower pots.
Fifteen Christian graves were damaged in the cemetery of Belleville-sur-Meuse and many crosses and statues broken into pieces. Ashes of three deceased have been scattered. Several crosses, marbles and plaques were broken into pieces and scattered on the ground. Statues of Christ were wrenched and let to lay on the floor.
The churches of Rieux-Minervois and of Toucy had to be closed after several acts of vandalism and thefts.
The 200-year-old Greek Orthodox Chapel of Saint Thekla in the village of Vokolida, Cyprus was demolished, allegedly by accident. The demolition was condemned publicly by the Turkish Cypriot authorities and two individuals were arrested for destroying the church and a promise was made to rebuild it. Nevertheless, due to several reasons, this has not yet been performed.
Unknown perpetrators knocked over gravestones and pulled out plants in a cemetery located in Velen.