On March 30th between 09:00 and 19:45, unknown perpetrators broke into the Catholic church in the Brüder-Grimm-Straße in Vellmar. They opened the door of the sacristy, the organ control panel, the cover of the baptismal font, the safe, and searched several cupboards before fleeing in an unknown direction. The total damage amounts to 1.000 euro. The police are investigating and searching for witnesses.
Sunday afternoon unknown perpetrators set fire to the catholic church in the Sudetenstraße in Rohrbach. A stacks of newspapers caught fire at the rear entrance of the church. The firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, so only the church walls and the door were slightly affected. The police are investigating and searching for witnesses.
An unclear regulation about churches caused difficulties between churches and police. The Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia, president of the Italian bishops' conference, asked the government to clarify these rules. During the Lockdown, the churches were allowed to be opened, but the assistance of a Mass was not declared as a vital necessity. The police raided several Mass being celebrated by small groups of people separated throughout the church and some bishops received reports of hundreds of euros for organising a mass.
During the night between the 28th and 29th of March unknown people vandalized several tombstones, knocked over plaques and crosses, and broke many candles in the parish cemetery in Wysoka, despite the corona virus lockdown measures in Poland. The police are investigating and searching for witnesses.
On the afternoon of March 28th, an unknown perpetrator broke into and damaged the organ case of the church Saint Remigius in Ingelheim. Furthermore, one page of the Gospel book, which has been laid out and opened, was set on fire. Just before this criminal incident a witness noticed a "strange" man, who pretended to want to play something on the organ. The police are investigating and searching for more witnesses.
On March 25th a statue of the Virgin Mary was stolen from the St. Antonius church in Dorsten. CCTV captured a couple entering the church and stealing the relic. The police is investigating and asking the public for help to find the statue, as it has a high ideational value for the parish.
Between 6:00 and 7:20 pm on the evening of March 26th, an unknown perpetrator vandalized the St. Michael Kirche on Kämpenstraße in Versmold. A shelf with Easter candles was knocked over, and the candles were scattered throughout the church. A large glass sanctuary lamp with the eternal flame candle was destroyed and a microphone was torn out of the ambo. The police are investigating and searching for witnesses.
Between Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon, three windows of the Protestant church in the Fahrgasse in Dreieichenhain were damaged by an unknown perpetrator. Two windows had a hole and the glass of the third one was cracked. The damage amounts to 500 euros. The police are investigating and searching for witnesses.
In the night of March 25th, two wooden statues; one of an angel and the other of a woman, were damaged in Kadzidlin. An unknown person cut off the wing of the angel standing by the building of the Municipal Library as well as the upper part of the woman`s figure. The whole damage amounts to 4.000 zlotys. A 43-year-old was caught and admitted the crime using a petrol saw. According to the Criminal Code, the crime committed by the 43-year-old man for unknown reasons is punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
The main entrance door of the church on Dąbrówki Street in Poznań was smeared by an unknown perpetrator during the night of March 24th to March 25th. An anarchist "A" symbol was sprayed on a pillar and the phrase "zdejmij suknię śmieciu" This roughly translates to: "take off your dress, punk" in blue paint was sprayed on the church. The police are investigating and searching for witnesses.
In the night between March 25th and March 26th, a graffiti with the slogan "Vive le marriage libre" (Long live free marriage) was sprayed on the door of the church of Saint-Hermeland in Loire-Atlantique. The police immediately identified the perpetrator, a well-known militant in anarchist circles.
On 25th March in Bouguenais, graffities were discovered on the walls of the city and the entrance of the church with hostile phrases saying "Save a Life, cough up a policeman", "Hang the Priests and Hang the Counts" and "No God, No Father, No Mother".
Around the end of March, a 22-year-old perpetrator entered the cemetery in Wysokie and devastated three graves. He destroyed plates, torn off the crosses and broke them and damaged the flacons, he also smashed the candles all over the cemetery. The total damage was estimated to be over 4.700 Zlotys. The police officers arrested the young man. In Niepolomice, the officers detained also a 28-year-old man in Podłęże for a similar crime.
On the 24th March, the ancient precious monstrance and a chalice were stolen from the local church in Ariano. The thieves attacked the religious building by smashing the windows and doors, overturning the crucifix and throwing consecrated hosts on the floor. The unknown perpetrators broke in through the side entrance after failing to use the main entrance. The community of Crociara was in shock after this incident. On the next day 25th March, the municipality of Corbola was also attacked, the sports field was damaged and the Oratory of Corbola was raided. The scene was similar as in Crociara, the windows and doors were broken and burglary took place.
In the afternoon of March 24th, a 43-year-old man broke into the evangelical church Dorfkirche in the district of Karow in Berlin and destroyed the interior. The man climbed up to the organ loft and shouted incomprehensible words, probably in a foreign language. When the police tried to arrest him he pushed them back, threatened them with a wooden plank and went on vandalizing the church. The police reinforcement was finally able to arrest the man and took him to a psychiatric hospital. The reason for this crime is unknown.
On Tuesday 24th March, a 43-year-old man devastated a Church with wooden slats and hit the police officers. The man first damaged the interior of the building and then went to the organ balcony, and shouted incomprehensible words. When the police approached, he hit them with the wooden slat and continued to destroy the church furniture. The officers called reinforcements and were able to arrest the man and took him to a psychiatric hospital.
Around March 15th, unknown perpetrators stoned the statues of the Virgin Mary and Pope John Paul II placed next to the entrance of the church San Martino in Magnago.
While France is subject to lockdown measures related to the coronavirus, thieves stole three video projectors and the money collected during Masses from the safe in the church of Sacré-Cœur in Mantes-la-Ville on March 23rd.
On the 23rd of March, unknown thieves stole video projectors and money during the quests. The amount of the theft remains unknown.
Two window panels and one element at the back window of the protestant church in Laubenheim have been broken. A lead glass element at the Catholic church and a large pane at the community center have been damaged too. The perpetrator had shared the committed crime on Facebook before being arrested by the police. The damage was repaired within two weeks, but the costs were tremendous.