French cemetery desecrated by swastikas, but not in the Jewish quarter

About sixty Christian graves were desecrated 'by swastikas' in the municipal cemetery of the French city of Fontainebleau, about 60 km south-east from Paris. The incident took place on the night from Sunday to Monday, but nothing was reported in the Jewish cemetery located next to the city's main Christian one, according to the Fontainebleau prosecutor's office. “Sixty-seven old or more recent gravestones were vandalized with swastikas in pink, white and silver,” Fontainebleau's mayor Frederic Valletoux told AFP, sharing pictures of the said graves on Twitter. An investigation was open for 'degradation of graves'. #Fontainebleau. Je suis scandalisé et écœuré par la découverte, ce matin, de très nombreuses tombes profanées par des croix gammées. Des actes abjects et répugnants contre lesquels je vais déposer plainte. Jamais notre cimetière n'avait été la cible de tels crimes pic.twitter.com/Fm02RvWptm — Frédéric Valletoux (@fredvalletoux) December 28, 2020 Strange inscriptions such as 'Biobananas' and 'Charles' were also tagged on the graves but 'no antisemitic inscriptions', said Valletoux on Twitter. The city council announced that a complaint will be filed by the city hall. 'No claim and no spray paint were found on the spot,' said the prosecution. Paris' deputy mayor, Audrey Pulvar, on the other hand, condemned on social media 'an antisemitic act that belongs nowhere,' creating the polemic on social media as some called her a ''hypocrite,' adding that 'these are Christian graves but that's okay, we are used to counting less than all the other minorities,' the French magazine Valeurs Actuelles reported. The antisemitic character of the incident was not established, given the inscriptions were only found on Christians' graves. However, the symbolism of the swastikas, as well as the likely link between the words 'Biobananas' and 'Charles' to respectively 'Shoananas' - the combination of the Hebrew name for the Holocaust with the French word for pineapple created by the well-known and condemned French antisemitic Dieudonne - and Charlie Hebdo - the infamous newspaper that was bloodily attacked in 2015 - is noticeable. Some other politicians reacted to the 'degradation,' among them France's Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin who wrote on Twitter that he was 'disgusted by the desecration of the cemetery', stressing that 'everything will be done to find the authors of this ignominy.' Écœuré par la profanation du cimetière de #Fontainebleau recouvert de croix gammées. Tout sera fait pour retrouver les auteurs de cette ignominie. Nous ne laisserons rien passer face à ceux qui déversent la haine. https://t.co/tnFoFK0scy — Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) December 28, 2020 'Abject, odious ... words are not enough to condemn these profanations which remind us, once again, of the importance of our fight against hatred,' also reacted President of the French President Emmanuel Macon's party at the National Assembly, Christophe Castaner. Abjectes, odieuses... les mots ne suffisent pas à condamner ces profanations, qui nous rappellent, une fois de plus, l'importance de notre combat contre les haines. Sans jamais transiger; sans jamais négocier. https://t.co/IcY86eGsor — Christophe Castaner (@CCastaner) December 28, 2020 For Valérie Pécresse, President of the Île-de-France region, this desecration is a “despicable act” carried out by “neo-Nazis”. Profanation de 60 tombes à #Fontainebleau par des neo-nazis, un acte ignoble dans cette période des fêtes qui devrait nous rassembler et nous unir! Soutien ⁦à tous les Bellifontains ⁦@fredvalletoux⁩ https://t.co/WyoMVpRqoU — Valérie Pécresse (@vpecresse) December 28, 2020 'The perpetrators of these heinous acts must be arrested and heavily condemned,' tweeted Alfortville's Mayor, Luc Carvounas. Les auteurs de ces actes odieux doivent être arrêtés et lourdement condamnés. Tout mon soutien à mon collègue et aux habitants de #Fontainebleau https://t.co/78vJSKgHTK — Luc Carvounas (@luccarvounas) December 28, 2020

French cemetery desecrated by swastikas, but not in the Jewish quarter

Only the Christian Quarter of the cemetery was desecrated by the graffiti, creating a debate on social media whether the incident could be classified as antisemitic.

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French cemetery desecrated by swastikas, but not in the Jewish quarter

Only the Christian Quarter of the cemetery was desecrated by the graffiti, creating a debate on social media whether the incident could be classified as antisemitic.

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