500 Muslim Soldiers' Tombs Desecrated In France

PARIS — Vandals desecrated at least 500 tombs of Muslim soldiers in northern France on Monday _ an act President Nicolas Sarkozy denounced as "repugnant racism."

The desecration near the town of Arras appeared timed with the start of Eid al-Adha, the most important holiday in the Muslim calendar.

The administration for the Pas-de-Calais region said the damaged tombs were in the Muslim section of the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette cemetery, a well-groomed burial ground for World War I soldiers. Some had swastikas scrawled on the tombstone, others had lettering whose meaning was unclear.

There are 576 graves in the Muslim section of the cemetery, where more than 30,000 soldiers are buried.

Sarkozy, in a statement, said the "abject and revolting act" equates with "repugnant racism against France's Muslim community" and insults the memory of all World War I combatants.

It was the third time the Muslim section of the cemetery has been targeted. Last April, 148 tombs were desecrated, and a year before that 52 headstones and an ossuary were vandalized.

The French Council for the Muslim Faith, a group representing France's numerous Muslim groups, decried "these odious, revolting and scandalous acts" and said it expected authorities to find out who carried out the attack.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said police were investigating the incident.

Comments

[LWilkinson315]

Thats just sad and sick :(

[walk0nwalls]

And they wonder why there are terrorist cells in Europe and not America

say what you will about America, the one thing we DO do better than anyone in the world is immigration.

[Misterdc]

Your comment makes no sense. The vandalism was most likely by neo-nazis AGAINST Muslims... I believe the US has it's fair share.

[shanefish]

Do you honestly believe that America has a good track-record when it comes to immigrants?

[Fuji]

We must. More and more come each year!

[Furby]

No terrorist cells in America? American does immigration better than anyone in the world? Wow, now I understand why the Fairness Doctrine might be a better idea than we think.

[JL-PICARD]

It is a pretty classless and cowardly act. However if a group of people immigrate to another country and when they get there they act like they never left their old country and expect the indiginous people there to adapt to them instead of the other way around, there is bound to be resentment. We have a similar problem here.

[SatinPanties]

Are you Native American?

[JL-PICARD]

Just pointing out the facts and I'm quite certain Native Americans were and maybe still are resentfull.

[Petunia39]

I had a good friend of mine once talk to me about integration or lack there off by Moroccans in Spain, it boiled down to the fact that the women wore headscarfs. For my friend integration meant, you dress the same way, drink and go to clubs. For me, integration means you respect the laws of your adopted country, you learn the language and respect your fellow citizens. Sometimes the first generation of immigrants doesn't pick up the language part, but by the time you get to the third generation, they're lucky if they can speak their ancestor's tongue.

[ecotopian]

Huffington Post needs to get a better source for its news. This article from the BBC is a lot clearer. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7771491.stm

[haramagoti]

BBC always is though, no matter who you are in journalism.

[Samirah1368]

I read both....th­ey both seemed very clear to me.

[haramagoti]

I agree, Huff had all the relevant info.

[echota]

This is beyond gross. What kind of @$$hole disrespects the dead anyway? Sounds like someone is missing a pair...and a brain.

[realt123]

Now, some of the extremists out there will probably react by protesting and then you will see another chain of events. These racists don't use their minds, do they.

[realt123]

Once again, to all you guys who think only Muslims do terror, you are proven wrong. Muslims too are victim to this insanity. I mean this is totally unfair. Graves??? That is so wrong! I respect people who died and this just offends me beyond belief.

[bazokbros]

Desecrating the graves by people who have never done anything of importance for their country or community against people who give their lives for their country is pretty chickens***. Considering most of the violence in world history is due to Judeo-Christian dogmas, this is very disgusting. I would like to see more non-radical fundamental Islamists taking more of a stand against the community of extremists and denouncing the Universal God's law doctrines which seem to be gaining popularity. Desecrating graves though is very cowardly and immediately rebukes any empathy of the logic that thought the statement makes sense.

[Fuji]

Considering most of the violence in world history is due to Judeo-Christian dogmas, this is very disgusting.

-- I'm less concerned about the crimes of 1000 years ago (like the Crusades) than I am of the crimes committed in the last 1000 days.

[Francis 3]

Third time in a year? At least 500 tombs?? Where was the security?

[wakeup804]

That is just plain ignorant. Who does something like that? There are some truly twisted people in the world. Sickening.

[Quotidien]

Pas-de-Calais is the "Dukes of Hazard" region of France. Not a surprise at all. I'll leave it at that.

[QueenOfViolets]

Interesting information. Thank you.

[werba]

Excuse me, but what does that mean? It means nothing at all to me. Perhaps you could clarify? I live in Pas de Calais...4­0 miles from Arras.

[Quotidien]

Alors vous savez parfaitement l'histoire de cette région. Malheureusement ce n'est pas la première fois que les actes de racisme sont arrivés la. Nous avons des régions ici qui sont pareils.

Les gens qui connaissent télévision américaine comprennent ce que « Dukes of Hazard » veut dire. C’est le nom d'une émission très populaire pendant les 1980s.

Je ne voulais pas vous insulter. Excusez-moi. Je voulais tout simplement aider les bloggeurs comprendre le parallèle à notre société.

[Quotidien]

Dukes of Hazard is the name of a popular American TV show that aired during the 1980s.

As a resident of Pas de Calais, you know perfectly well the history of racist incidents that have occured in this region. We have regions in America that have a history of these types of incidents as well.

I was giving the HuffPo bloggers a frame of reference by using the Dukes TV show. Je ne voulais pas vous insulter. Excusez-moi. Je voulais tout simplement aider les bloggeurs comprendre le parallèle à notre société.

[Ihhp]

This is JUST SAD.

[FreedomAgain]

Why not put up a security camera?

[FreedomAgain]

Lets see, would it be cheaper to keep replacing stones, or just put a security camera on the area? Maybe have it monitored by the local police.

[UrbanRube]

This is horrendous! These are French veterans and human beings. Who would do this and why? I am so sorry for their families. What a gut-punch of a blow.

[steamboat]

When OUR hero's, AMERICAN WW2 soldiers, who made the ultimate sacrifice on D-Day and afterward freeing France and the world had their tombs desecrated about 3 years back, you same people didn't say a word. And blogs like this one didn't or wouldn't mention it. So why now and not then? A very fair question.

[steamboat]

PS: and OUR soldiers tombs were desecrated in that same northern France area.

[Fuji]

It IS a fair question.

[UrbanRube]

Had I been a reader of Huffington Post before 2008, I most certainly would have said the same things here about the descration of American soldiers' graves. My brother is a Navy commander with two tours in Iraq, but even if I didn't have honorable soldiers in my family represented in every single war all the way back to the Revolutionary War, I would remain outraged by the desecration of ANY soldier's grave. Why would you assume that someone who's outraged by the descration of a Muslim soldier's grave is automatically a person who wouldn't also be outraged by the descration of Christian or non-religious people's graves? Many of us care about protecting the memory of ALL honorable people, especially those who have served in the military.