French IM meets Muslim leaders after Cemetery vandalized

By: Nabil Raza

STRASBOURG, France: Vandals desecrated several dozen Muslim graves by painting neo-Nazi symbols on gravestones and toppling some others in a night-time attack on a Strasbourg cemetery, prompting France's interior minister to visit the region to meet local Muslim leaders on Monday.

More than 50 graves in Strasbourg's Meinau cemetery were covered with black swastikas and, in some cases, “HH” (for Heil Hitler) and the neo-Nazi characters “88”, which refer to the letter H being the 8th letter in the alphabet.

A wall nearby was inscribed with threats against the heads of the regional Muslim council and the regional assembly as well as the phrases “Sieg Heil”, “White Race”, “White Power” and “Adolf”.

Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin along with Muslim leaders visited the Strasbourg's cemetery, where the graves desecrated were discovered on Monday morning in the Muslim quarter. Dominique de Villepin held talks with Abdelhaq Nabaoui, President of the Muslim Regional Council of Alsace.

The minister denounced “the odious profanations committed last night” and assured local Muslim leaders of his support, according to a statement from his office.

“We cannot accept such acts of barbarity ... such crimes against the spirit of our republic,” he said.

In the Alsatian village of Wittersdorf, residents found racist and neo-Nazi graffiti on Sunday painted in about 15 different places - walls, bus shelters and along streets.

Police were investigating both acts of vandalism.

Local Islamic leaders reported seven attacks against Muslim sites in Strasbourg in April, including graffiti saying “death to Arabs.” Most Muslims in France are of North African origin.

Last week, three Muslim graves were desecrated in a cemetery in the southern French port of Marseille that is home to many members of the country's large Muslim community. Headstones were broken and gravel from the pathways was used to make crude copies of the swastika, the Nazi cross, police said after the desecration was discovered Wednesday, June 9.

END