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| Europe |
| Dozens of British war graves are vandalised in northern France |
| 2005-08-03 |
| Graveyards desacrations seem to occur more and more frequently in La Belle France. Such class, such bravery... From Adam Sage in Paris SCORES of British war graves were vandalised at a cemetery in northern France yesterday, provoking outrage from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and French authorities. In what gendarmes said was one of the worst acts of vandalism they had witnessed on British war graves, 42 headstones at the First World War Albuera Cemetery in the village of Bailleul-sire-Berthoult, near Arras, were toppled over. Most had been kicked down, officers said, and one was charred after a fire was lit next to it. The register and the visitorsâ book were also burnt. Gendarmes said that they had found beer bottles in the cemetery, and believed the damage was the result of mindless vandalism. âThere is no grafitti and no sign that anyone was trying to make a political message,â said an officer. âWe are working on the theory that this could have been carried out by drunken youths.â Christopher Farrell, administration manager for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in France, said: âThis cemetery should be a haven of peace, and obviously any reasonable person would find this shocking.â He said that acts of vandalism were rare in the 2,915 Commonwealth military cemeteries in France, and tended to involve only a handful of headstones when they occured. âIn my time here, I donât think I can remember as many as 42 being vandalised,â he said. âThe French authorities are being very supportive about this and want to make it clear that they wonât accept any form of vandalism. We saw the village mayor and he cannot believe it happened in his village, especially because every year the council lays a wreath in the cemetery on Armistice Day.â Michel Dupuis, Mayor of Bailleul-sire-Berthoult, which has a population of 1,148, said: âWe are completely sickened by what has happened. It is scandalous to have done such a thing. We hope for only one thing, that those responsible are arrested.â Hamlaoui Mekachera, the French Minister for Former Soldiers, expressed very strong indignation after the desecration. Describing the attack as barbarous and shocking, he spoke of the âundying gratitude of the French people for the soldiers of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth who came to fight by our sides during two world warsâ. He said police had been ordered to step up surveillance of cemeteries after a series of politically motivated attacks on Jewish and Muslim graves. The Albuera Cemetery is the burial place of 253 Commonwealth servicemen and one German. British troops first began burying their dead there during the Battle of Arras in the spring of 1917. But after the Armistice, soldiers who had died at other battlefields were brought for burial at Bailleul-sire-Berthoult as well. In 2003 ten headstones were stolen from the nearby Hiberts Trench Cemetery by thieves believed to have taken them as garden ornaments. Earlier that year protesters daubed slogans condemning the war in Iraq at Etaples Cemetery, which contains 11,000 graves. âBut by and large, thereâs relatively little vandalism of this sort in France,â said Mr Farrell. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #2 As much as I dislike the cowardly French nation, on every trip I have made to the Northern coast, the people had a deep respect for the Britts, the US, and the price "we" paid for "their" freedom. I can only hope it was just a few drunk idiots and not some growing trend on the northern coast. If there is a change of heart up there we have lost the only logical people in France. |
| Posted by: 49 pan 2005-08-03 21:59 |
| #1 Btw, I forgot, I dont have the exact numbers in mind coz I'm weak and stoopid (and badly need penis-enlargement pills), but I'm absolutely certain that the vandalizings of christian places of worship and christian graveyards dwarf the ones directed at jewish or muslim ones, all this in an absolute MSM silence. A christian graveyard desacrated is vandalism, barely worth of mention in the local newspaper, a muslim one is hate crime, covered by national teevee. Note that in almost all recent cases, the perps who have been caught after having vandalized muslims graveyards were... north africans muslim, usually designed as "mentally ill"!... Still, even in regard with that, somehow, I doubt synagogues are being firebombed by jews, and I doubt churches are being used as public toilets by christians. In this case, northern France plus beer plus fire (a firebomb?), in my bigoted mind, would perhaps point to "racailles", that is muslim juveniles, rather than leftists. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2005-08-03 15:04 |