Back-up of Desecration of Muslim WW1 Graves (1)
It looks like it's becoming an annual tradition at Notre Dame de Lorette cemetery in Arras, France, home to 40,000 graves from World War I. A year ago, a trio of neo-Nazi vandals ages 16-21 painted swastikas and other slogans on 52 of the cemetery's Muslim graves, which are gathered in one area and face Mecca. They all got jail sentences. Over the weekend, vandals struck again. From Al-Jazeera:
- "Up to 148 Muslim graves in France's World War I cemetery have been desecrated in an incident that has drawn strong condemnation from the country's president.
A pig's head was hung from one of the several tombstones targeted by vandals who also wrote slogans insulting France's Muslim justice minister, officials said on Sunday.
...Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, expressed 'profound outrage' at the 'sordid' attack and vowed that those responsible would be punished."
It's vile, but unfortunately not surprising given the level of tension regarding the Muslim community in France. Due to a large influx of North Africa immigrants, France has seen a rise in Islamic enclaves in recent years; France doesn't ask about religion in its census, but the CIA World Factbookpegs Muslims at about 5-10% of the population. Jacques Chirac's push to keep the hijab (headscarf) out of schools further inflamed religious tensions. And that tension goes both ways, including the backlash from extremist groups that want to push out Muslims.