(Reuters)
Five French “teens” were held today for defacing 300 graves at a Jewish cemetery in Sarre-Union.
YNet News reported:
Five French teens held for defacing roughly 300 Jewish graves in eastern France; teens arrested after the youngest of the group came forward in wake of massive outcry.
Five adolescents aged 15 to 17 have been detained for questioning in eastern France over the vandalism of Jewish graves, a local prosecutor said on Monday. All five are from the region of Sarre-Union in Alsace, where around 300 tombs were defaced and damaged on Thursday.
The youngest came forward after being shocked by the massive reaction across the country to the vandalism, prosecutor Philippe Vannier said.
“Apparently, he was very very affected by the scale of the reaction to this affair, including the statements from the highest state authorities,” Vannier told reporters.
The boy, who was encouraged to hand himself in by one of his friends, has denied any anti-Semitic motive, Vannier added.
“We don’t know the motives of these adolescents who don’t have past criminal records and we don’t know of any ideological convictions that could explain their behavior. “They are very very shocked by the turn of events.”
It is not the first time that a Jewish cemetery in Sarre-Union has been targeted.